Realities are starting to rise on a portion of the edgy strides taken by previous President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Issa Hayatou to spare his occupation amid the last decisions held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Hayatou's 29 years rule as CAF president was conveyed to an end a week ago, when he lost by 20-34 votes to Madagascar's FA manager, Ahmad at the polls.The Guardian learnt that Hayatou on detecting that his crusade prepare was making a beeline for a stone, summoned mettle and moved toward the President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, to argue for his vote.
It was further learnt that at the meeting, the Camerounian solid man tabled a considerable measure of things before Pinnick, top of which was an offer of a FIFA Council situate ticket if Pinnick could help him scale the obstacles in Addis Ababa. Ghana's FA manager Kwesi Nyantakyi before the decision in Addis Ababa possessed that position, having been chosen on September 29, 2016, in Cairo, Egypt amid the surveys to fill two extra seats given to Africa in the new-look FIFA Council. FIFA had expanded its 24-board enrollment to 36 a year ago.
Describing what happened amongst Hayatou and Pinnick at the meeting in Addis Ababa, a source revealed to The Guardian that the NFF supervisor expeditiously turned down the offer, blaming Hayatou for searching for an approach to start a strategic line amongst Nigeria and Ghana.
"Kwesi Nyantakyi won the FIFA Council situate under four months, yet the position must be pronounced empty for the race in Addis Ababa. Kwesi was one of the seven hopefuls that challenged for FIFA gathering seats, yet Hayatou needed Pinnick to drop his CAF Executive seat crusade against the man from Benin Republic in return for the position involved by Kwesi of Ghana. He guaranteed Pinnick that he would ensure Kwesi did not get the bolster he required for the FIFA Council situate.
"Be that as it may, Pinnick said no. He disclosed to Hayatou that his real point was the CAF official seat, and adjacent to, changing his crusade to the FIFA Council situate ultimately would add up to cutting his Ghanaian sibling at the back. Hayatou argued and argued, however Pinnick said no," the source expressed.
Talking further, the source included that when it turned out to be evident that Pinnick was not prepared to acknowledge Hayatou's offer, the Camerounian purportedly depended on crusade of extortion, debilitating that he would utilize all accessible "device" to prevent Pinnick from winning the CAF Executive seat.
"He revealed to Pinnick in that spot that he would ensure he didn't get more than four votes at the race. Hayatou was so certain he would win since his crusade group could infiltrate around seven hopefuls in the COSAFA zone after their underlying consent to run with Ahmad. That is the manner by which messy the legislative issues of CAF decision could be," the source included.