CAF appoints Amaju Pinnick 1st Vice President

 

President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Melvin Pinnick, has been appointed as 1st Vice President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

CAF’s Secretary General. Amr Fahmy, signed the letter that announced the appointment of the Delta-born football administrator into the exalted position.

Pinnick replaced Ghana’s Kwesi Nyantakyi who stepped down from the position following an undercover investigation that indicted him for dropping the name of the Ghanaian President in shady deals.

It would be recalled that Chris Giwa on Monday stormed the Secretariat of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) with some security agents to assume office as substantive Chairman of the federation, claiming to have taken over from the incumbent, Aminu Pinnick.

Giwa   assumed office in line with the ruling of the Supreme Court on June 5 at the board room.

He said that the court had nullified the parallel election held in Warri by the former chairman, Amaju Pinnick and upheld him as the chairman.

“I am here to claim my mandate as the substantive chairman elected on August 26, 2014.

“We waited for the other board to finish the preparations for world cup so that we can assume office,” Giwa said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Chris Giwa was allegedly elected chairman of the NFF on August 26, 2014 but the election was not recognised by FIFA.

FIFA eventually supervised another election on Sept. 30 in Warri Delta, after it had threatened to ban Nigeria from all its activities—-Amaju Pinnick eventually got elected with 32 votes out of the 44 votes and stepped into office.

Following the development, Giwa pursued his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sports, where he lost and was banned from football related activities by FIFA

However, the Supreme Court on June 5 set aside Pinnick’s election and recognised Giwa as substantive chairman.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports on Monday directed the Nigeria Football Federation to comply with the judgment of the Supreme Court which set aside the election into the Executive Committee of the Federation held on Sept. 30, 2014.

The directive was given in a statement by Nneka Ikem Anibeze, Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Youths and Sports, Solomon Dalung, on Monday in Abuja.

According to the statement, the Supreme Court verdict restored the orders of the Federal High Court which set aside the purported election of the current Executive Committee of the NFF.

 

I am not behind killings in Nigeria – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that only malicious people were accusing him of condoning killings being carried out by suspected herdsmen.

Buhari stated this while addressing a Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) delegation from the 19 northern states at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Thursday,  insisting that killings did not start with his administration, but that he was doing everything to end it.

“When some (people), for clearly political purposes, attempt to suggest that this government is doing nothing about the killings, and that I, being Fulani, must be encouraging these satanic acts, it seems to me that there is no limit to the evil in the minds of these men.

“Otherwise, how can anyone in their right minds suggest that I, as an elected President even with substantial votes in the affected areas, will for any reason do harm by an act of omission to those same people?

“Secondly, the problems in all these areas, as you all know, are historical. There is no administration that has not had to contend with killings in these same areas over the years.

“Indeed, in 2001, you may recall that after thousands were killed in Plateau State, a state of emergency was declared and a governor was replaced by an administrator.

“To suggest that our administration is doing nothing is terribly unfair. We must not forget that the same Plateau state which has been crisis-ridden for years has in the past three years been celebrated for its peacefulness. The governor’s hard work for peace and the presence of the military’s Operation Safe Haven must have had some impact,” Buhari said.