Weeks before Nigeria’s football
chief exited as vice president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF),
a corruption probe letter had caused animosity between both parties.
Amaju Pinnick and the Nigeria
Football Federation (NFF) were pivotal in the change of guard witnessed in the
leadership of CAF in March 2017
Upstaging the then emperor of
African football, Issa Hayatou, was never going to be a child’s play; with the
Cameroonian enjoying a 29-year spell largely unchallenged at the top.
Getting Mr Hayatou off the way
required nerve and tenacity and that was what the NFF through its president, Mr
Pinnick, helped galvanize, which led to the landmark victory that installed the
new order in CAF.
With the emergence of Ahmad Ahmad
as the new CAF President, it was only normal to reward his allies with key
positions to help in effecting the changes professed during the polls.
Mr Pinnick was thus appointed the
1st Vice President of CAF.
However, barely halfway through
its first tenure in office, the CAF leadership developed a strained
relationship with one of its closest allies in the NFF.
The intense politicking and
perceived betrayal culminated in a ‘palace coup’ that saw Mr Pinnick lose out
in the CAF hierarchy during the Executive congress held at the recent Africa
Cup of Nations in Egypt.
While Mr Pinnick’s ouster was the
climax of what has been a frosty relation lately, findings show that the NFF already had issues with its African body over a letter
written to it by an investigative panel from Nigeria.
The Presidential Letter
The letter, obtained from the NFF secretariat. It was signed by the
General Secretary, Mohammed Sanusi, and was addressed to the CAF Secretariat.
The NFF said it was taken aback
by the actions of CAF in responding to a query from Nigeria’s Special
Presidential Investigation Panel on Recovery of Government Property (SPIP).
“First and foremost, the Nigeria
Football Federation is surprised that as your affiliate, the Confederation
Africaine de Football (CAF) would receive a letter with regards to an
investigation into its activities from an agency in Nigeria, and CAF would
proceed to reply such a letter without seeking some clarification/explanations
from the NFF,” the NFF letter to CAF reads.
“We are in possession of a letter
from the Special Presidential Investigation Panel on Recovery of Government
Property (SPIP), dated 10th June 2019, and signed by its chairman, Chief Okoi
Obono Obla, seeking information from CAF as part of its ‘investigation into the
2014 FIFA World Cup payment made to the Nigeria Football Federation. We are
also in receipt of CAF’s response, dated 30th June 2019, and signed by the
General Secretary, Mouad Hajji.”
According to the NFF, they were
not aware of any investigation by this SPIP regarding the transaction under
reference and the SPIP has never requested any clarifications from them with
respect to such.
The federation also said that at
no time did they ever claim or document anywhere in their financial record to
have paid money to the Confederation of African Football to attend the CAF
Congress held in Cairo, Egypt on April 7, 2015 as it is being claimed by SPIP.
“The only records the NFF has
regarding any financial dealings with CAF are the records of the inflow NFF
received from CAF at various times which are duly reported, audited and
recorded in NFF Annual Audited Account prepared by PriceWaterHouseCoopers
(PwC),” the NFF scribe said in his letter to the Africa football body.
In its explanation, the NFF
frowned at the narration by the SPIP suggesting that monies were paid directly
to CAF to attend its congress but the federation admitted that $565,471.00 from
its Domiciliary Account was for well-spelled out purposes.
“Indeed, the NFF had on 2nd April
2015, withdrew the total sum of $565,471.00 from its Domiciliary Account being
payments for 5Nr distinct activities including estacode payments to NFF
delegation (3Nr Persons) traveling to the CAF Congress in Egypt via payment
voucher number DOM/PV/44 which now carry the narration “Payments for CAF
Congress in Egypt and Others,” another part of the letter written by the NFF
secretary to CAF read.
It continued: “The amount of N60,
000 (Sixty Thousand Naira Only) and $19,269 (Nineteen Thousand and Two Hundred
and Sixty-Nine American Dollars Only), (item 1 on the Payment
voucher/retirement document) were the ONLY sums expended on the CAF Congress,
and this was NOT paid to CAF, but constituted local transport (N60, 000) and
estacode allowances ($19,269) for the NFF delegation (3Nr PERSONS) that
travelled to Egypt for the Congress in 2015.
“However, the bank records’
narration only captured payments for “CAF Congress in Egypt and Others” as the
narration for the payments, for the fact that the CAF Congress estacode was
item number 1 on the Payments vouchers among the 5 items being paid for.”
The NFF said this clarification
would have been made and the issues explained had the CAF Secretariat brought
the letter from the SPIP to their attention.
NFF defers to FIFA
While also providing other
breakdowns of their financial expenses, the NFF faulted CAF for erring in the
laid down procedure stipulated by world football governing body FIFA in its code
of ethics
“More than the above and the
foregoing notwithstanding, we would have expected first and foremost, that the
CAF Secretariat would have drawn the attention of the SPIP to the FIFA Code of
Ethics that stipulates without any ambiguity which institution has the
prerogative to audit/investigate/inquire about monies paid to Member
Associations of FIFA by FIFA. That institution, of course, is exclusively FIFA,
and no other agency/ministry/panel or by whatever name constituted,” the NFF
noted in its letter to CAF
It urged CAF to take all
precautions, including carrying along its legal and other relevant departments,
when receiving letters such as that from the SPIP.
Separate Corruption Probe
Separate from the SPIP
investigation, leaders of the NFF, including Mr Pinnick, are being prosecuted
for corruption by the anti-graft agency, EFCC.
Mr Pinnick and four others,
namely: the NFF Secretary, Sunusi Mohammed; the 1st Vice-President, Seyi
Akinwumi; the 2nd Vice-President, Shehu Dikko and an executive member, Yusuff
Fresh, are being prosecuted for diverting $8.4 million from the NFF account in
2014.
While Mr Pinnick and his team
continue yo face their corruption probe in Nigeria, FIFA has temporarily taken
over the running of CAF over other corruption allegations involving Mr Ahmad
and other officials.
culled: PremiumTimes
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