Governing Bodies
ENTRY CLOSES TODAY FOR CAF PRESIDENTIAL RACE
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
The curtain falls today on entry for both the CAF presidency and membership of the executive committee. The names of those cleared for the election will be announced on 11 January 2021 while the Elective General Assembly is slated for Rabat on 12 March 2021.
As at last count, interest for the presidency pointed to four candidates, but Sports Village Square gathered that only one had submitted his form as at Tuesday morning.
The incumbent, Ahmad of Madagascar is strongly believed to be disqualified for the election owing to his recent indictment by the FIFA for ethical breaches. No pronouncement has come yet since the indictment.
But it is a time bomb that Ahmad is probably sitting on. Other candidates include surprise, but apparent front runner, South African billionaire, Patrice Motsepe, whom Sports Village Square gathered has been the only one to have returned his form to the CAF headquarters as at Tuesday morning.
Jacques Anouma of Cote d’Ivoire who was controversially disqualified when he challenged the immediate past and long-standing president, Issa Hayatou in the 2013 election has indicated willingness to run again.
Two Tunisians – Tarek Bouchamaoui and Wadie Jary also showed passive interests, but none is believed will run.
Although there have been indications of interests among many, sources in the Confederation of African Football, CAF have informed Sports Village Square that as at Tuesday morning (10 November), the only submission for the presidential position has been that of South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe.
The incumbent, Madagascar’s Ahmad, still observing self isolation in Cairo, Egypt has not yet filed his nomination for re-election.
The latest person to indicate interest is Mauritania’s Ahmed Yahya. Considering the dichotomy that runs in African football administration and organisation, the Mauritanian is believed to be the candidate for the Arab bloc and could have the support of Ahmad, should the incumbent president be disqualified.
Senegal’s Augustin Senghor who is also expected to announce his candidature may divide the larger Francophone bloc from where Jacques Anouma comes from.
The final list of the bid is expected to be announced at close of working hours this Thursday.
Governing Bodies
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.
The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.
Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.
He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.
An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.
He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.
“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”
Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.
“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.
He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.
“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.
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A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.
Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.
He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.
He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.
Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.
While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.
-Reuters
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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.
Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.
The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.
Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.
“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.
“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”
Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.
“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”
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