A new dawn at CAF

The seemingly perennial grip of Issa Hayatou on the presidency of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) came to an expected denouncement penultimate Thursday following his emphatic defeat by his challenger, Ahmad Ahmad of Madagascar, at its 39th General Assembly. The new CAF boss grossed a total of 34 votes to Hayatou’s 20.
Ahmad thus becomes the 7th president of the 60-year-old continental football body.

His victory is historic given his nationality and obscure background in African football. Until his emergence, the new CAF helmsman was the president of his country’s Football Federation, serving a third term, as well as member of the Confederation’s executive committee. An ex-footballer and a coach, he is also a politician who has held some elective positions.

Although the writing was on the wall indicating Hayatou’s imminent defeat so as to pave the way for a younger and more energetic leader, some pundits were still of the strong belief that the larger Francophone members of the CAF from whom he had been drawing his voting strength would maintain the status quo and perpetuate him in office.

The Nigerian government also queued behind Hayatou and openly mandated the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, to cast his vote for him in the spirit of good neighbourliness and in appreciation of the support the Cameroonian government has been giving Nigeria in its war against the Boko Haram terrorists.

But Pinnick, who had publicly declared the federation’s support for Ahmad to the chagrin of some stakeholders, must have played his card well and joined the winning train of younger and more vibrant administrators of football federations who yearned for a change of leadership of the continental body.

His understanding of CAF’s politics also ensured that he secured a seat for west zone B on the Confederation’s Executive Committee after defeating the incumbent from the Republic of Benin, Mr. Anjorin Moucharafou, by 32 to 17 votes. Anjorin had written off his challenger as a rookie, banking on Francophone’s esprit de corps to return him to the seat.
It is hoped that Nigeria will get a better deal in the new CAF, more so that we have a representation on the executive committee.

Under Hayatou, Nigeria faced total neglect especially in the area of refereeing at the various continental championships including flagship competitions like the Nations Cup Finals. Under Hayatou’s watch, CAF did not see anything good in our referees… a situation that contributed to the stagnation of that aspect of our football over the years.

Also because of Hayatou, Nigeria missed a lifetime opportunity of hosting the FIFA World Cup Finals in 2010. The Nigerian government, notorious for backing the wrong horse, threw its weight behind Hayatou who was gunning for the FIFA presidency after the federation had zoned the championship to Africa for the first time.

For backing Hayatou against the then incumbent president, Sepp Blatter, the FIFA awarded the hosting right to South Africa which gave him a red carpet treatment after he was shunned by Nigeria whose football officials were not even at the airport to welcome him when he visited to garner support.

The Ahmad leadership has promised to carry out a far-reaching reform in the body, including the probe of the CAF’s financial dealings under Hayatou. We advise that the new executive committee should expand the space at the biennial Nations Cup Finals so as to accommodate more nations and give opportunity to African footballers to showcase their talents to the global soccer community. This is in line with the FIFA’s proposal to increase its World Cup format from 32 to 48 countries by 2022.

It is also expected that Ahmad will use his position and close affinity with the youthful FIFA boss, Gianni Infantino, whose soft spot for Africa is evidenced by the appointment of Ms Fatma Diouf Samoura, a Senegalese, as the first secretary general, to improve the fortunes of the continent’s football while ensuring transparency and accountability in the management of the grants given to its affiliated member federations.

We congratulate Mr. Ahmad on his feat as well as our own Pinnick for recapturing the seat for Nigeria after the exit of the late Orok Oyo Orok and Amos Adamu. In our editorial of Tuesday, March 15, 2017, we canvassed for a change of guards at the CAF, stressing that the continent needed a younger and more energetic leadership to move its football to the next level.

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