INTERVIEW: Hiring Rohr, opposing Hayatou are my greatest gambles, says Pinnick

Amaju Pinnick, president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), was in the eye of the storm recently over his decision to support Ahmad Ahmad, incumbent president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) against the directive of Solomon Dalung, minister of sport.

Pinnick contributed to the process that truncated the 29-year reign of Cameroonian Issa Hayatou at the regulatory body on the continent. The Nigerian also braved all odds to win a CAF seat.

In this interview, Pinnick told TheCable that unseating Hayatou and getting Gernot Rohr to coach the Super Eagles are the only gambles he has taken in life.

WHAT HIS VICTORY MEANS

I want to say that my victory at CAF election is a new vista; a new channel to develop football not just in Africa, but in Nigeria. This is not just about Amaju Pinnick, a Nigerian needs to be there. Nigeria is a very big country and once you are a Nigerian leading an organisation that has a global affiliation, most countries will unconsciously depend on your country, not for official leadership but directional leadership.

It is from this belief that we said, we need a Nigerian to lead in CAF. Thus, it must be an exclusive preserve for Nigeria. If you look at UN security council, it consists of countries that super powers… So, I said Nigeria must have a say because if you look at the key countries that have made immense contributions to the development of football on this continent, before you mention one, two three countries, Nigeria must be there… I want to thank every Nigerian for the support given to me and also thank the federal government.

It was a tortuous and rugged journey but at the end of the day, we have cause to smile. I am very happy and proud to be a Nigerian.

NIGERIA NOT PREPARING TO TAKE OVER CAF

My loyalty is to Ahmad Ahmad 100 percent, we will help him to develop and take football to the next level. The loyalty of everybody made it possible, not just me alone. Musa Bility of Liberia, Phillip Chiyangwa of Zimbabwe and Kwesi Nyantakyi of Ghana. We have pledged our loyalty to Ahmad Ahmad. He will be there for eight years, according to the statute. We will give him that support, because he needs to stay there to develop football.

WILL WORK WITH THOSE WHO DIDN’T SUPPORT HIM

I do not begrudge anybody, and that is the truth. Because in life, I don’t see anybody as a stumbling block, I rather see them as building blocks. It fits the scripture of my life. I have a relationship with them. I have spoken to Dr. Amos Adamu; I have spoken to Amanze Uchegbulam; I have spoken to everybody who bothered to call me, even those who did not support me. Like I said before, it’s not about me but Nigeria, and you cannot just wish away their experience, I will still need them; I will still talk to them. They are Nigerians; they have rich experience.

I am just one among everybody; I don’t take personal opinion. I don’t take decisions alone. I don’t want Nigerians to see my position as a personal one. We have to get other Nigerians to work. People like Paul Bassey, will you say I should shove him aside because of what he said? No! With his rich experience, one must work with him. I must tap from that experience. Before God and man, I don’t begrudge them. They are my seniors, I must respect them. I must work with them to develop football, not just in Africa, but also in Nigeria.

EGYPT’S ‘DOMINATION’ OF CAF

We are coming with a new tempo. CAF was under the leadership of one man for 29 years, that’s conservatism, and conservatism is not a synonym for being primitive, it’s a traditional style of doing things… they want to maintain a permanent lifestyle, but innovation is doing something in a new way.

CAF is not just about Egyptian football because it is domicile in Egypt. We are thinking of many things that we are putting together. I can assure you that there will be changes, positive ones. And one thing I can say to you is that, there will be more Nigerians working in CAF. There will be Ghanaians, Ethiopians and other countries too. We will give every country sense of belonging.

TWO GAMBLES THAT PAID OFF

In life, I will say I have taken two major gambles, and they are the appointment of a foreign coach, and the CAF election. Do you think we will be where we are today if Nigeria did not have a foreign coach? We took the bull by horn… I went to CNN and BBC before CAF election, and I spoke with authority.

CHALLENGES OF NIGERIAN LEAGUE 

Whatever you see happening at the league management committee (LMC) today, it is still our baby. Because we believe that the development of our football lies in our league. A major thing that is affecting our league is refereeing. We are going to deal with it very squarely.

Yaya Toure, African male player of the year, and Asisat Oshoala African woman player of the year, with Pinncik at the 2014 Glo-CAF Awards

I have told the chairman of referee committee that we are going to adopt the FIFA approach in the case of Joseph Lamptey (a Ghanaian referee that was banned for life after being convicted of match manipulation). If we get everything right and we don’t get the officiating right, no one will come to the stadium to watch games. They will say ‘when you go there, they will lose the match’.

Look at the beautiful goal between Rivers United and Gombe that was disallowed? We will correct these things and put our house in order… in the last few weeks, Nigerian referees have been appointed to officiate international matches. Trust me, it’s not by fluke. We are in charge of CAF now, and we will see more Nigerian referees officiating because we have some of the best, even though we still have the worst referees in the world, that’s the truth.

Look at Abdul Ogunmuyiwa, a Nigerian referee officiating at the Beach Soccer World Cup? He is number one in Africa in terms of Beach Soccer and 5th in the world. We want football referees go to the main World Cup, We don’t want to be left behind. We must get that sector very right, because it is a key sector.