President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, has revealed how he helped to remove Issa Hayatou as CAF president, after the Cameroonian spent 29 years in office.
Speaking as a guest at the 2nd matriculation ceremony of the Michael and Cecilia Ibru University (MCIU) in Agbarha-Otor, Delta State on Tuesday, Pinnick revealed there was a plot to keep Hayatou in office longer than he stayed.
“I had hand in the A to Z of that election despite the fact that the authorities insisted that it was Issa Hayatou or nobody else. But everybody wanted him out and he was doomed to fail. We continued with our plan and today we have a change of government in CAF,” Pinnick stated.
Last week, the former Delta FA chief, admitted that fighting against Hayatou was one of the gambles he had taken as a football administrator.
“Hiring Gernot Rohr was a gamble we the NFF Executive Committee took to save our national team after local coaches failed to deliver. Rohr has given our football hope with his unbeaten run since he took charge, and it will be mission accomplished when we get a World Cup ticket.
“The other gamble we took was my spearheading the campaign to install a new leadership in CAF. It was a decision by a group who wanted a change from the old tradition of managing the game in Africa. I know the backlash could have been terrible if we had failed, but thank God we succeeded,” Pinnick who also won a seat in CAF Executive Committee said.
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