SINCE assuming office as President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) almost three years ago, Amaju Melvin Pinnick has been trouble-shooting his ways on all fronts in order to leave his imprints on the sand of time.
Pinnick is perhaps the most vilified in the history of the NFF’s presidency after the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the last two successive Africa Cup of Nations as well as the non-qualification of the Flying Eagles and Golden Eaglets for their continental age grade competitions.
Yet, the 44-year-old former chairman of Delta State Football Association and Delta State Sports Commission is not the type to brood over what others may say about him, revealing that two factors- Godliness and Warriness (his coinage for being brought up in Warri, Delta State)- have stood him in good stead over the years.
“My staying power is not only because I grew up in Warri,” Pinnick told The Nation Sport & Style duo of MORAKINYO ABODUNRIN & TAIWO ALIMI at his well-set home in Lagos on Easter Monday.
“But when you grew up in Warri, you have a sense of resilience in everything; nobody intimidates you and that is just the general attitude of a typical Warri man.
“But if you add the ‘Warriness’ to Godliness, it is a beautiful combination and I always thank God for everything that I have achieved in life.
“I do not begrudge anybody because even your worst enemy might end up becoming your best friend. So, I do not begrudge anybody because they might end up bailing you out in a tight situation.
“When I was asked about what I would do to the people called ‘CAF 11′(Nigerians in CAF Committees that disagreed over his choice of Ahmad over Hayatou ahead of the CAF polls) after my election into the Exec utive Committee of CAF, and I ‘said nothing’ because these are people that are well experienced in football administration. I will still tap from their experience and whenever I need them, I will crave their indulgence and they will hearken to my voice and listen to me.
“Frankly speaking, I believe nobody is a stumbling block to me, rather, everybody is a building block to fulfil my biblical destiny, and that is the truth. Critics, as you said, are my building blocks not stumbling blocks,” posited Pinnick.
Indeed, Pinnick was the rallying point of the group that brought an end to the 29-year-long tenure of Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and ushered in Ahmad of Madagascar as the new continental soccer ruling body supremo last month. In his first major interview after the CAF elections where he was also voted into the Executive Committee, Pinnick spoke on a wide range of issues under his watch at the NFF and what to expect at CAF post-Hayatou’ years. Excerpts…
You usually talk about intense leadership which comes to the fore as President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), how difficult is it to run the NFF?
It is really challenging; really, really challenging but the good news is that we have an executive committee that is very understanding. I give kudos to them all the time. They would have made it more difficult if they want to but in everything that I have presented to them, they always support me. The NFF’s Congress too quite understands, so I have to thank them every day for being there for me. Otherwise, it would have been very tough. The truth is that the totality of Nigerians are football enthusiasts. Say 95 percent of Nigerians love football, so they always believe that you must get it right and it is not your fault. That is the way I see it when I was outside the football federation, but coming right in, I realised that it is very intense. It is really difficult running Nigerian football but I thank God that when you pray and work in a very dedicated manner, it becomes as easy as anything goes. I pray and work hard and that makes things easy for me.
One of the challenges you have faced since coming on board is funding, how have you been surviving, coupled with the fact that there are countless programmes the NFF must accomplish?
We came in at a very trying period. Extremely, trying period. We came in when there was a transition in government; from one government to another. Government needed to settle down and look at issues; economic, social issues under which football is captured. Other issues like economic recession is there and several companies that would have assisted our sponsorship drive are only thinking about how to survive. They are not looking at making profits but how to keep their heads above water. It is tough for them too. Looking at the price of diesel, you have to run to do business and power your business. We came at a time when even people that are enthusiastic say ‘hold on, hold on, when things start looking up, we come back to work with you.’ That’s it. But, as I said, my executive committee has always been supportive, and when we put anything to them, they are set and ready to support me. We are struggling, really struggling, but I can assure you those things will look up very soon. I believe that and I know God is helping us out. As we are working religiously with some individuals that are very powerful in this country, they are assisting us reach out to corporate bodies within the country and beyond, identifying the ones that are still doing very well, saying ‘these people are credible, give them support.’ So, we are working on all those and more.
People often say that Nigeria doesn’t have a real football culture in terms of administration, what kind of sustainable culture are you putting in place?
We are looking at so many things, especially our youth developmental programmes. But there are things that are militating against us moving forward. Instability is one of them. We are still in court; we are in the Supreme Court with Giwa as I talk with you. Given this scenario, how do you sustain all things you are bringing up? How do people come out and say, yes, we are ready? So, it’s been very difficult. But, as I said, we are just putting this parameter together and trying to move on. We have advocated for a level of autonomy from the National Assembly, which I believe will be passed very soon. We have gotten a lot of global recognition, which, of course, we are very thankful for. And those are two areas that we believe we did not get it right before and we are working on getting right. Once we get that right, a lot will happen. Because leadership is not just saying, ‘once you get there, things will start to happen.’ You have to study what you met. There are times you don’t even know what you met, and so, you have to look at the challenges and the assets as well as the liabilities. How do you turn the liabilities to assets and how do you turn the assets to better assets? I always give thanks to God because I believe God brought me to lead Nigeria football for a pur pose. And by God’s grace, we are going to accomplish.
Despite all that you have achieved personally, people still underrate you. For example, the Benin FA president called you a ‘small boy’ ahead of the recently concluded CAF elections, how do you react to such negative comments?
I am a very prayerful person. All those criticisms propel me to greatness. I bother less and I just hand over everything to God. I say ‘God, I’m your child, take charge.’ And God will actually take charge at every point. I’m a child of God. I’m a destiny child. We are not regular. If you look at the way I came in, who would believe that I would stay one month? Today, I’m almost three years on the job. I’m not just there; I’m in the most important committee in FIFA. I’m a member of the CAF Executive Committee and I’m the Vice-President of WAFU. All that achieved within two years. In all modesty, if God has really impacted in my life, then I should give back to Nigerian football. It is not rosy all the time, but I still give thanks to God. He has given me a direction and whenever I’m leaving, I will leave with my heads high as president of NFF.
You keep saying you are destiny child and you are the third person to sit on the seat of CAF Executive Committee, what does this mean to you personally?
Yes, I’m a destiny child. But my election into the CAF executive committee means so much to Nigeria as a country. Nigeria is the biggest and the most important black nation in the world. When I was interviewed on CNN, a very popular CNN reporter came to me and said ‘wow, that was very brilliant interview.’ He said two weeks ago, there was a call from (POTUS-President of United States) Donald Trump to your president. That Trump doesn’t easily align with country but he has spoken with two countries in Africa, and you are here too talking about change in CAF. I said Nigeria is regaining its rightful place as the giant of Africa again. To me, that was quite satisfying coming from a reporter of that status. For me, what I understand about Nigeria is that it takes a directional leadership. It gives direction, especially in global organisation. People look at Nigeria for direction. If you look at what President Buhari did during the Gambia situation even when he was not the chairman of AU (African Union) or ECOWAS (Economic Committee of West African States), but Nigeria provides
