The two-year tenure of Amaju Melvin Pinnick, president of the Nigeria Football Federation, has elapsed and the battle for control of the powerful football governing body was at its most feverish last week, even as a subsisting court order delivered a suspension of the planned September 30 election for a new president scheduled for the ancient city of Benin, capital of Edo State. It will draw the curtain on the term of the Delta State-born sports administrator, first elected as NFF President in 2014 after winning an elective congress that was held in Asaba, the Delta State capital. Pinnick, whose reelection in 2018 made him the first ever football adminstrator to win a second term, was previously accused of nursing ambitions for an illicit third-term.
At the sidelines of the General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) hosted by Kenya last August, Pinnick had given life to that accusation when he chipped in the quip that there were some stakeholders in the football scene asking him to remain in the saddle for another term but the member of the FIFA Council vehemently denied ever considering any tenure-extension agenda, while dedicating himself to a free, fair and transparent process that will lead to the emergence of a worthy and acceptable successor.
He also admitted the existence of capable hands to run the country’s football affairs after him, saying: “There are so many Nigerians that are capable of being there (NFF President). I will assist and work with anyone who wins the elections. I will work with whoever emerges as NFF President. That I promise. I will intervene but will not interfere.”
This successor will have work to do, given where Nigerian football stands currently, especially as the World Cup played in Qatar in November without the Green and White of the Nigerian Super Eagles, a clear signal of its declining status as a continental and global football powerhouse. The responsibility for this decline rests partly on the administration of the game in the country, which is Pinnick’s office and duty.
A veritable criticism of the two-year tenure of the 51-year-old President was that faced with a choice of developing football through incremental steps at every level and the option of raising the profile of Nigeria’s football pedigree by raising his personal profile as football adminstrator on the continent and globally, he never missed the chance to pick the latter. Therefore, soon after becoming NFF President in 2014, he began a race to become a member of CAF’s Executive Committee with his sights also set at membership of the FIFA Council, the highest decision-making organ in world football.
These drives were productive for Pinnick. He was elected into the CAF Executive Committee in March 2017 and, in September 2018, he replaced Kwesi Nyantakyi as First Vice President of CAF. Then, during the CAF General Assembly held in Rabat, Morocco in March 2021, Pinnick beat incumbent Malawian FA president Walter Nyamilandu to secure a seat in the prestigious FIFA Council.
Pinnick’s belief in elevating the status of Nigerian football through these continental and global elections came at a price. While his profile increased, there was no corresponding elevation in the results that football in the country witnessed during the single-term tenure of his predecessor, Aminu Maigari. Nigeria won no fewer than 13 trophies, bringing home the prestigious African Cup of Nations (AFCON) under Maigari’s four years in office and it has only managed three trophies under Pinnick’s eight years, with one of the three being a victory that can be attributed to Maigari’s work before he left office.
The last time Nigeria won the AFCON was in 2013 and they have not lifted the trophy under Pinnick. Under him, since 1974 Nigeria failed to qualify for two consecutive AFCON competitions.
The three trophies clinched under Pinnick include the Under-17 World Cup in 2015 and the Women’s AFCON in 2016 and 2018. Yet even in the women’s game, the decline is all the more apparent. The Aisha Buhari invitational, which the NFF created in partnership with CAF a year ago, turned out disappointingly in the end when South Africa’s Banyana Banyana whipped the Super Falcons 4-2 in the earliest indications of their overtaking the Falcons on the continent. That trend continued when both countries were drawn in the same group in this year’s WAFCON as South Africa both beat Nigeria again and finished victorious to lift the continental trophy for the first time, after their previous strings of disappointing finishes. It was the worst ever outing of the Falcons since the WAFCON began and it coincides with the inability of the female team to qualify for the last two Olympic Games. In male, female and age-range competitions, this declining trend is apparent.
Although two gargantuan sponsors of the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL), Supersports and domestic telecommunications company Globacom pulled out from their sponsorship agreements for their reasons (Supersports alleged breach of contract with the League Management Company that manages the NPFL and Glo claimed there was no return on investment), there were some significant sponsorship deals signed to support the NFF in football adminstration in Nigeria.
Last September, towards Pinnick’s attempt to make the federation self-funding, the NFF and Nigeria’s largest carrier, Air Peace, signed a sponsorship deal worth N300m to make the airline the official airline sponsor of Nigerian national teams, and followed that with a a sponsorship deal worth N500 million with multi-national telecoms company MTN, which became the exclusive communications partner of the Nigerian national football teams. There were further deals with Dettol, Revolution Plus, Premier Lotto (“Baba Ijebu”) and a leading fintech company, Bitnob.
The onus will now rest with whoever succeeds Pinnick to continue on the drive towards self-funding and to grow the local league to the point of competing favourably enough to improve the country’s 14th-place ranking on the continent. There is also the responsibility of seeing to the realisation of Nigeria’s 10-Year (2022-2032) Masterplan for the revitalisation of football in the continent and beyond. If properly implemented, the Masterplan can help to address the basic issues that persistently impede the growth of football in the nation and provide benefits to a wide range of football-related concerns. These and a potpourri of matters at the Glass House will be at the forefront for the 11 aspiring contestants for the NFF presidency, who have fulfilled the conditions necessary to stand for election.
These 11 aspirants include the following: Abba Yola, the Chief of Staff to the Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, who is an ex-chairman of Nigerian football giants, Kano Pillars; Adam Mouktar Mohammed, the economist, who is the current chairman of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Football Association and who also heads the Abuja-based football academy, FC Hearts; Amanze Uchegbulam, who is the current chairman of the Imo State Football Association and who formerly served as the 1st vice president of the NFF and as a former vice president of the Board of Appeal of CAF; Dr. Christian Emeruwa, who is a sports adminstration lecturer, is the Head of Safety and Security at CAF and also is a FIFA Senior Safety and Security Officer; David-Buhari Doherty, who is a football scout based in the United Kingdom and is an entrepreneur and the President of Team Nigeria UK (TNUK).
The others are: Ibrahim Gusau, who is a current executive board member of the NFF, and is also the Chairman of all State Football Association Chairmen; Idah Peterside, who is a former goalkeeper for Enyimba and the Super Eagles and currently features as a TV pundit with Supersports; Musa Ahmadu, who is a lawyer and former General Secretary of the NFF; Seyi Akinwunmi, another lawyer who is the current 1st Vice President of the NFF and who also heads the Lagos State Football Association; Shehu Dikko, who is the NFF’s 2nd Vice President and Chairman of the LMC; Suleiman Yahaya-Kwande: , who is a politician, the former chairman of Mighty Jets Football Club, the vice chairman of Plateau State Football Association and a current executive board member of the NFF, while also being an ex-member of the Nigerian House of Representatives.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
