AMAJU'S HOUSE OF CARDS

AMAJU’S HOUSE OF CARDS

The TV camera focused on Amaju Melvin Pinnick in the VIP stand of the Cairo international stadium. He looked lost in his thoughts and in his face was a bland expression of one who was unaware of his environment. His wards, the “Super” eagles of Nigeria had just conceded an own goal to go a goal down against a slick Algerian side in the semi-finals of Africa’s premier tournament. The goal didn’t seem to bother him as his lack of expression mirrored.

However, he must have been regurgitating on the peccable actions he had taken over the last eight months.

The CAF Exco meeting was going to take place in a couple of days and he had obviously seen the handwriting on the wall, and his position was precarious. How did it all fall apart? How did one of the CAF’s President’s inner kitchen cabinet member suddenly find himself to be in limbo?

Mr Pinnick, the dignified and often times arrogant, President of the Nigeria Football Federation enjoyed the game of political chess. He worked his way, against the odds, to win the elective post of the NFF President, though great wealth and government support played no small measure. He also risked his young foray into football politics by supporting the underdog in the CAF elections. With his deep pockets and a group of younger administrators from around Africa, they made sure the FIFA Tsunami was replicated in Africa as they disposed of the experience but dictatorial administrator from Cameroon, Issa Hayatou who had marched unhindered at the helm of the continent’s football for nearly thirty years.

Though Hayatou’s tenor had recorded some remarkable successes in African football (increase from 2 to 5teams for the World Cup, Hosting of the first World Cup in Africa, expansion of AFCON from 8 to16 teams, growth of African Club Competitions, and that of youth soccer, women’s football & beach soccer), it was indeed time for a new order.

Amaju was pivotal in the removal of Hayatou. His shuttling between African countries and Zurich was done with diplomatic expertise. He was supposedly the main financer of the ‘new revolution’ that brought in the unfancied Madagascan administrator, Ahmad Ahmad, and as a reward for his endeavors, Amaju was given a front seat in the affairs of CAF. He was named chairperson of the AFCON Competitions Committee and influenced the appointment of some Nigerians into committees in CAF and FIFA and was ostensibly the right hand man of Ahmad Ahmad. Amaju did not work alone as he had some able lieutenants, and his seeming deep pockets had also put him close to the President of FIFA too.

But then, as things often do, there appeared to be cracks on the wall of

Amaju’s relationship with Ahmad. Evidence of this was reflected in the letter Amaju sent to Ahmad in April 2019. In the letter he accused Ahmad of being dictatorial and losing support of his troops. He also complained of the lack of progress in CAF and about being sidelined in his functions and being made irrelevant as the Chairperson AFCON by a General Coordinator. He complained of some actions being ‘utterly disrespectful and insulting’ to him. He accused the CAF President of making mistakes and urged him to own up to them, making a veiled comparison of Ahmad to Gianni Infantino.

The letter was not complimentary to the CAF President to put it mildly and showed the depth of discord within the President’s cabinet. Some also saw this letter as a campaign base Amaju was using to gather support for his ambition to be CAF president. Indeed, there had been rumours that he had been scheming to get Ahmad removed as CAF President. The Executive Committee had seen him as arrogant and ambitious. One member revealed off camera that he had even once bragged that he owned oil wells and was one of the richest people in Nigeria.

Reports had it that Amaju had criticized CAF’s decision on the Champions League replay to his colleagues. This was seen by the Ahmad loyalists as not being loyal and scheming to succeed Ahmad. Ahmad was arrested in France (though later released without charge) during the Women’s World Cup. It is not known if Amaju was    in any way involved in the information leading to his arrest but his case  was not helped by journalists especially     in Nigeria    and Kenya, beginning to speculate about the next CAF President if Ahmad is charged with corruption.

The acrimony between the CAF President and Amaju was also noticed in CAFs response to the investigation going on back home in Nigeria on Amaju. The EFCC and other bodies have been on the Amaju-led NFF in several corruption and money laundering investigations. The Special Investigative Presidential Panel (SIPP) wrote a letter to CAF which was signed by SIPP chairman, Okoi Obono-Obla, saying: “The Agency is investigating the Nigeria Football Federation on the 2014 FIFA World Cup payments and other financial transactions made to CAF on 2nd of April, 2015 and 10th of April, 2015 respectively. “The NFF had by its President, Amaju Melvin Pinnick claimed to have sent to your organization the sum of $565,471 to attend the 2015 Congress on the above stated in Cairo, Egypt. Please kindly clarify if you received such payments from the NFF to attend the said Congress.”

In its reply through its General Secretary, Mouad Hajji, on June 30, 2019, CAF said attending any of its congresses does not require any financial contribution from members associations. “Referring to the final report (please find attached the enclosed copy) approved by the 2015 General Assembly It appears that CAF did not receive any payment from the Nigeria Football Federation.The participation of all the National Associations in the Congress is free and requires no contribution from the latter to the holding of these General Assemblies and the expenses are borne by CAF for all the representatives of the participating federations.In conclusion, I confirm that no contribution from the Nigeria Football Federation has been received by CAF. While remaining at your disposal, for more clarifications, please accept dear Mr. Chairman our most sincere greetings,” the statement read.

And with his close confidants and allies already out of CAF there really was no one within CAF ready to back Amaju wholeheartedly. (Ghana’s FA President Kwesi Nyantakyi was banned for life after an expose on his corrupt practises while Liberia’s Musa Bility had declined to put himself for re-election in April after he launched a scathing attack on Caf's leadership as he resigned from two positions within African football's ruling body. Ironically, his dispute with Ahmad Ahmad was about at the same time Amaju’s letter was written to Ahmad)

So why is the post of Africa’s Top position so important now? To answer this we have to delve a little more into the giant organization called FIFA. Yes. That organization that Andrew Jennings, the British Award winning journalist describes as a secret world of bribes, vote rigging and scandals.

FIFA for long had been envious of its subsidiary UEFA. The income and

influence generated by UEFA’s prime property, The Champions League, was

incredible. To put in perspective, FIFA’s prime property ‘The World Cup’ gives its winner 40million dollars, once in four years. UEFA’s prime property, The Champions League, gives its winner over 100million pounds annually, that is, in 4 years, while FIFA would have given its winner 40 million dollars, UEFA would have given its winner almost half a billion dollars in prize money alone. This, in addition to other revenue streams, dwarfs FIFA’s reward system.

In a bid to close the gap and generate comparable incomes, FIFA planned to introduce the 24 team club World cup mostly by invitation or other independent means of selection. UEFA strongly opposed this and vowed that they would not take part. The battle has been long running. But recently, FIFA  announced a prospective sponsorship deal of 25 billion dollars from a fund of investors from the Middle East and Asia for a revamp of the World Club Championship and creation of other FIFA events. The details of this deal are sketchy and FIFA President has been less than forthcoming leading to so many intrigues and speculation. It is also speculated that UEFA initially opposed to a revamp of the Club Tournament has made a U-turn and agreed to participate in the tournament with winners from the previous 4 champion’s league taking part at the inaugural World Club Cup competition in 2021.

This has led to questions whether UEFA had compromised their earlier position and given the feeling that FIFA was willing to share as long as deals were made, the deal has thrown up even more questions for which answers have not been provided. The recently concluded European Nations League was said to have been supported by FIFA as the pilot for a World Nations League and its success is a way for FIFA to introduce this new event in the near future as the second one proposed under the controversial FIFA sponsorship deal

This new financial injection into FIFA has put other Confederations on alert and all want to follow UEFA and have their own share of what is seen as a very lucrative pie, thus the scramble for who gets to control the negotiations with FIFA. So CAF, with its 54 member countries, is a strong voting block and he who controls CAF has influence to control the hundreds of millions of dollars potentially coming to the coffers of the Confederation as their own share of the deal. If you follow the money, you’ll understand what the battle is about.

However, FIFA is not run by the Pope and its members are not priests. After the scandals of the last decade which led to the FBI investigation, the corruption exposures and the mass resignations and sacks coupled with the ban of the last President Sepp Blatter and his friend Michel Platini, FIFA lost a lot of credibility. To regain that back they had to undertake massive reforms especially in administration and management. Part of the reform was separating administration and corporate governance from financial transactions and fund management. To manage the administrative reform, the very well respected Senegalese diplomat and United Nations top personnel Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura was head hunted and prised from her job to become the first female Secretary General of FIFA after her predecessor Markus Kattner was implicated in corruption. Having worked credibly in the UN for years, her appointment brought a seal of approval that FIFA was indeed ready for reforms and good governance. She had a very huge role and responsibility for overseeing the operational side of the organization, while the financial side was separated from operations and managed under a new system that removed the responsibility from the General Secretary’s office – separation of church and state to assure probity and transparency…or so it seemed.

And it is in this arrangement that the shadowy sponsorship deal came to be, which going by reports is far more than ordinary sponsorship and partnership deals and given the fact that FIFA has been less than upfront about the nature of this deal, it would be difficult for the vultures of FIFA to pass the governance and administrative eagle eye with Fatma in charge. So when the whispers of corruption and unethical governance in CAF started, the FIFA men probably decided the best way to remove Fatma from the goings on without suspicion was to “promote” her to CAF to reform the organization. (After all she was an African in a top job). This action, alien to FIFA and CAF statutes, was rejected by CAF and UEFA and even criticized by Sepp Blatter. The only way FIFA could interfere with CAF was if its Executive asked them to, and so far, they had not done so.

But as the Game of Thrones in CAF and FIFA were playing out, Amaju was battling for his political survival both at home and in CAF. With all his allies falling into one pit of trouble after another, he increasingly saw himself alienated. Even the gregarious Danny Jordan of South Africa, a one-time opponent of Ahmad Ahmad seemed to have made peace with the President. Amaju’s last joker was his perceived closeness to Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president – but this was not quite what it seemed as it was said not to be Amaju that was close to Infantino in fact, but former Zimbabwe Football Federation President, Phillip Chinyangwa (who lost out in the recently concluded elections into the leadership of the ZFF), through whom it is said Amaju got to know Infantino well.

During the three weeks of AFCON, Infantino had tried unsuccessfully to placate Ahmad, who had now seen Amaju as a traitor and didn’t want to work with him. Finally, as a compromise Ahmad made a deal with Infantino. He would accept Fatma as ‘Delegate for Africa’ if Infantino withdraws his backing of Amaju. Infantino did. Afterall with USD$25billion in the coffers and the need to keep the prying eyes of Fatma out of FIFA, this was a win-win for all parties…except Amaju.

Amaju was removed openly at the Executive Committee of CAF. It was a unanimous decision. A lot of journalists back home had tried to put a spin on it that he stepped down but the word from CAF as reported by the international sports media said it was a dismissal. The BBC reports that ‘Nigeria's Amaju Pinnick has been removed from his role as a vice-president of the Confederation of African Football (Caf) and replaced by South Africa's Danny Jordaan.’ It also went on to report that ‘Pinnick's exit means a reshuffling of Ahmad's vice-presidents, with Constant Omari of DR Congo and Moroccan Faouzi Lekjaa moving up from second and third vice-president respectively.’

It should be noted that Amaju was 1st Vice President of CAF for ONLY 11 months. No comment about tenor expiring was in any CAF communication on the issue so all the spin about not being nominated to continue in office was just that - spin. Whether it was for influence over FIFA’s new financial bounty, or to ease the pressure from the investigation at home it is not clear but Amaju left Egypt a day before the competition ended, thereby not seeing out his role and duties as the competition chairperson. He has to pick his battles and for now must be realizing that if there is no enemy within, the enemy outside cannot hurt you. It may be time to clear up those charges at home. The battle for CAF…and possibly FIFA can wait another day.

Enee Udo-Obong OLY is a writer, administrator, businessman, coach and public speaker…and oh! Has an Olympic Gold Medal to his name.