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Gusau elected new NFF president
Ibrahim Musa Gusau on Friday becomes the 40th president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
Gusau was elected as the new NFF president at NFF’s 78th Elective Congress in Benin, the Edo State capital.
At the end of the first session of voting, Gusau had 21 votes, which was enough to defeat the outgoing NFF VP Seyi Akinwunmi, who came in second with 12 votes. The second runner-up Shehu Dikko, the other outgoing NFF VP, garnered six votes, while Abba Yola and Idah Peterside both had one vote each.
When it was obvious that a clear winner did not emerge as a result of FIFA rule, which states that the winner must score up to 51% of the total votes cast, a re-run was needed for a winner to emerge.
Delegates at the venue were stunned when outgoing vice presidents Akinwunmi and Dikko stepped down from the re-run race, but former Nigeria, Enyimba and Moroka Swallows keeper Peterside opted to contest the second phase of the poll.
Peterside, who got one vote in the first round, still ended up with a solitary vote, while Gusau polled 39 votes to emerge victorious.
There was a total of 41 votes after the re-run, with 40 valid votes and one vote registered as invalid.
Meanwhile, Peterside alleged that some aspirants stormed the venue of the poll with bags of dollars to buy votes.
He stated, “We did not sleep till 3am (Friday morning) because we were trying to convince people. Some told us they were offered $15,000; $10,000. What gain do I have to lie about this?
“A young man told me that he had $5,000 shared into six places to offer zones who would vote.”
A ruling by the Court of Appeal on Thursday morning ordered a stay-of-execution of an ex parte injunction secured a fortnight ago to stop the elections, meaning that the coast was clear for the contest for the NFF presidency by 10 individuals and dozen other notable persons jostling for seats on the federation’s executive committee.
The 10 persons that jostled to succeed Amaju Pinnick as Nigeria football’s supremo are current vice presidents Seyi Akinwunmi and Mallam Shehu Dikko, as well as current Executive Committee members, Ibrahim Gusau and Suleiman Yahaya-Kwande.
Others cleared to contest were immediate past General Secretary, Musa Amadu and Head of Safety and Security of the Confederation of African Football, Christian Emeruwa, Mouktar Mohammed, former Nigeria international, Peterside Idah, Abba Yola and UK-based David-Buhari Doherty.
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