CAF Presidential Election: Minister Dalung concedes to Pinnick

Minister of Youth and Sports, Barr. Solomon Dalung, has joined the NFF Executive Committee to express support for the NFF President, Mr. Amaju Pinnick, to use his discretion at the CAF presidential election to vote for a candidate who will best serve Nigeria’s interest.

This is coming after a statement from the sports minister attacking the NFF President for openly declaring support for Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad’s bid for the CAF presidency in the March elections.

Dalung had said in the statement last Friday that the views expressed by the President of NFF as to who to support or not in the CAF presidential election are “his personal opinion and do not represent the position of the government and people of Nigeria.”

However, at a meeting convened by Barr. Dalung in Abuja on Tuesday, the NFF President, Pinnick, and members of his Executive Committee, briefed the minister, who then conceded that Pinnick should use his discretion to vote, adding that the interest of Nigeria should be “paramount in all calculations.”

Read Also: Minister Dalung summons NFF officials over CAF elections

Regarding reactions from various football leaders in Nigeria over Pinnick’s public declaration, it was also resolved at the meeting that other stakeholders in Nigerian Football who have suggestions or recommendations should tender same through the NFF and not in the media.

Dalung further endorsed the candidature of Pinnick for a seat on the Executive Committee of CAF, at the polls which is scheduled for next month in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

“The Government of Nigeria has given its blessing to Pinnick’s quest and will fully support him,” Barr. Dalung was quoted to have said, in the press release on the official website of the NFF on Tuesday.

Pinnick will be challenging his Benin counterpart, Anjorin Moucharafou, for a seat in the CAF Executive Committee – winner to emerge after the elections that will hold at the Ordinary Congress of the continent’s foremost football body in Addis Ababa on March 16.

 

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