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| Gianni Infantino - Source (Reuters: Arnd Wiegmann) |
FIFA has appointed its secretary general Fatma Samoura as 'FIFA General Delegate for Africa' in a bid to improve football governance on the continent.
The biennial Africa Cup of Nations is currently under way in Egypt and the 24 competing nations have got down to the business of playing thrilling football, taking their destiny in their hands. The arrest of Ahmad Ahmad, president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), in Paris earlier this month in a corruption-related matter, seems like a distant past.
In the boardroom, however, what has been swept under the table since the embarrassing episode is the autonomy of African football.
Amaju Pinnick, chair of the Nigeria Football Federation and Ahmad’s first vice-president, was next in line to preside over CAF, but has now been side-stepped by FIFA.
The world governing body has taken the novel step of appointing FIFA general secretary Fatma Samoura, the world’s most powerful woman in football, to supervise the affairs of CAF.
Senegalese-born Samoura, an astute administrator with decades of experience at the United Nations, has been handed the unusual title of FIFA General Delegate for Africa and will run CAF from August till early next year. The time frame is subject to a six-month extension, at the discretion of FIFA.
In that period FIFA, through Samoura, will conduct a forensic audit that could throw up some more scandals. That is in itself a joke as the current Gianni Infantino led FIFA is itself in need of an even more stringent forensic audit.
Insiders have suggested that some on the FIFA board are eager to get rid of Samoura because of her outspoken and uncompromising disposition, with Amaju Pinnick, a trusted and utterly corrupt lackey, being touted as a possible replacement for her.
Amaju Pinnick, who came through the ranks as sports chief in his native Delta State, also has some corruption allegations to face in the Nigerian courts, including presiding over one of the most corrupt and utterly inept NFF boards in the history of Nigerian football.
To further underscore what may be Zürich’s deep-seated distrust for Pinnick and the rest of Ahmad’s lieutenants in Cairo, FIFA also suspended payments to CAF two days ago. The New York Times reports that the withholding of funds may have been a necessary move in getting the CAF hierarchy to agree to let Samoura take control on the eve of the Africa Cup.
Analysts are saying that the move is an indictment of the African body’s leadership and is a welcome decision to steady a rudderless ship with a greedy captain and crew.
“The clear inference of this decision is that CAF is unable to handle its own affairs and solve its own problems, and that we have to seek the assistance of the master – often outside Africa – to help us clean our mess,” wrote South African daily City Press, in a stinging editorial.
Nigerian journalist Oluwashina Okeleji, writing for Al-Jazeera, revealed that Ahmad had also bankrolled the hajj pilgrimage journeys of a number of African football association heads. “CAF’s unwillingness to honor its own rules and laid-down procedures undermines its credibility as a governing body,” he added.
Disgraced former FIFA executive Sepp Blatter called Samoura’s appointment “new colonialism”, while UEFA’s Aleksander Ceferin said the European football body did not approve of FIFA’s decision.
Editor's Comment: FIFA has no business appointing a so-called "General Delegate" for Africa and the acquiescence of Ahmad and Pinnick to this extraordinary and illegal move is extremely worrisome. It further speaks to the inordinate ambition of African leaders and their willingness to sell their own for the proverbial "sit at the master's table".
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