What appears a major confusion may have hit the campaign train of former President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick, who is seeking re-election into the FIFA Council.
A few days ago, Pinnick was quoted by a national daily saying that he does not need the support of anybody (government or individual) to win his election back to the FIFA Council. This year’s election is scheduled to hold in Bangkok, Thailand on May 30.
Pinnick was elected into the FIFA Council in Rabat, Morocco, in 2021 with the support of both the federal government of Nigeria and some individuals. At that election, the Delta State born football administrators defeated the President of Malawi FA Walter Nyamilandu, 43 votes to eight votes during the CAF General Assembly. Prior to the election day, the government deployed some individuals to lobby on behalf of Amaju. It worked, as many notable candidates withdrew to pave the way for his victory.
From 2021 till date, Pinnick operated as a warlord in his FIFA Council position, dictating for the Ibrahim Gusau-led executive of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). He single-handedly picked coaches for the Super Eagles and the Super Falcons, which led the country’s failure to qualify for the last FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Apart from his over bearing influence on the NFF executive, Pinnick is being accused by the country’s anti-corruption agency, ICPC, of using his position as NFF President to amass wealth to himself. Till today, Pinnick has not cleared his name from the various accusations leveled against him.
Now, Pinnick is afraid his re-election into the FIFA Council might hit the rock. He has allegedly dangled some juicy offer to some desperate individuals to help him arm-twist the federal government to support his re-election bid.
Apart from that, Pinnick has written to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maltama, pleading with him to use his office to deploy a lobby group to various countries to pave the way for his re-election into the FIFA Council in Bangkok later this month.
In his letter, dated April 18, 2024, Pinnick, in his usual character, told the minister that his re-election into the FIFA Council would be of great benefit to Nigeria.
He stated in his letter to the Foreign Affairs minister that he had already written to the Federal Government for financial support through the NFF and office of the Sports Minister, John Enoh.
A source stated that Pinnick has promised both the NFF Executive and some officials in the Sports Ministry huge cut if they succeed in getting the money from the Presidency.
It was not clear the amount of money he is seeking from the federal government to pulp into his re-election campaign, the source close to the NFF revealed that Pinnick is looking for ‘huge’ amount of US dollars for his campaign.
Pinnick is said to be lobbying some officials close to Delta State government to release huge amount of money for his campaign.
Pinnick is said to have recruited seven top Nigerian sports editors and three foreign journalists to help push his campaign, promoting them huge amount of US dollars.
To some individuals, Pinnick should be left to carry his cross because of his high level of arrogance and style of using public office to uplift himself alone.
Several calls to his mobile number to get his view were unsuccessful.
