Sports
Nigeria Loses FIFA Exco Seat
Former Secretary-General of Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Alhaji Sani Toro, says all hopes are not lost with the failure of Nigeria to retain a place on the FIFA Executive Committee.
Tidesports source reports that Nigeria’s candidate, Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima, on Wednesday lost in the elections held at the CAF 33rd Ordinary General Assembly in Khartoum, Sudan.
Galadima had placed last with five votes in the five-man race to fill two of Africa’s four slots on the FIFA Executive Committee, after the seats became vacant following a four-year tenure.
Algeria’s Mohamed Raouraoua won the race with 39 votes, and he is joined on the committee by Ivorien Jacques Anouma who scored 35 votes and is returning to his seat.
Seychelles’ Suketu Patel secured 12 votes, just as South Africa’s Danny Jordann also lost out after he managed only 10 votes, while former Zambian national captain Kalusha Bwalya had earlier quit the race.
Nigeria’s Amos Adamu who had been on the FIFA seat was not up for re-election after his suspension from all football-related activities by FIFA following corruption allegations.
Toro, while reacting to the election results, said the outcome was not unexpected in view of the manner of events which preceded the elections.
“Those of us who know some of them at FIFA had expected it to go this way. I never even expected Galadima to get five votes, I was thinking of something like two or three votes.
“The situation was made bad by the confusion over whether Adamu would win his appeal, and the delay this brought about in campaigning for Galadima really affected us,’’ he said.
Toro who is a CAF Match Commissioner however refused to blame the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) for the situation that led to Galadima’s loss.
“I don’t think we should blame the NFA. The association had nominated Adamu before his problem with FIFA, and when this came up, it sent Galadima’s name as a replacement.
“There were several instructions here and there later, which created a confusion, and in that situation it was difficult to get Galadima’s campaign on the move,’’ he said.
The former Bauchi State Youths and Sports Commissioner however believes all hopes are not yet lost, saying the important issue now should be how to get the CAF hierarchy to do Nigeria’s bidding.
“There is still hope. We have always supported CAF in all its activities, and CAF President Issa Hayatou is fully aware of this. So, all of them there at CAF need to be told that Nigeria deserves the seat.
“Though CAF’s Article 22 Sub-Section 12 stipulate that if there is a vacancy on its Executive Committee, a replacement should come from the zone whose member is out, but we still needs to convince others that Nigeria deserves it first in view of its contributions,’’ he said.
Toro however urged suspended CAF Executive Committee member Amos Adamu to do a more careful study of his case against the world football governing body at the Court of Arbitration in Sports (CAS).
“We need to do a more careful study of the situation in order to move forward, and Adamu has to do a re-think on his stance.
“He should look again at his case, and if he knows he’s not going to win, he should just allow Galadima to go on to replace him so that Nigeria will not lose the CAF seat also.
“We have already lost one, we should not lose two, and Nigeria as a country is greater than any individual,’’ he said.
Hon Dike who spoke with sports journalists shortly after the flag off the 2024 edition of Chairman’s Football Unity Tournament at Botem Tai in Tai LGA, said the tournament is an annual event to promote peace and unity in Tai as well identify budding talents in the area for global competition.
The opening ceremony of the tournament was more like a carnival was witnessed by huge crowd including prominent indigenes of Ogoni Kingdom, sports lovers and people from all works of life.
The LGA boss revealed that special sports committee will be setup in the area to work out modalities to strengthen sports development in Tai.
He advised the participants in the tournament from various wards in the LGA to play the game by the rules and conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner and use the opportunity to showcase their talents.
Hon Dike further disclosed that his administration will also give priority attention to skills development among the youth to enhance their human capacity and promote enterprise development in the area.
Earlier in his address the Chairman of Tai LGA Football Council, Elder Wisdom Gorgor said the annual football competition has been a unifying factor in Tai LGA that need to be sustained to forge more unity and development in the area.
He urged the participants to see the competition as an opportunity to embrace football as a full career and earn sustainable livelihood.
Elder Gorgor who commended the Chairman of Tai LGA, Hon Dike for his visionary leadership and tremendous development achievements recorded in the LGA under his administration, appealled to the Chairman to build a Mini Sports Stadium in the area to promote sporting activities.
The training was held at the Sani Abacha Stadium Indoor Basketball Court in Kano last Saturday.
According to the Vice President and Head of NBA Nigeria, Gbemisola Abudu, the event was part of the league’s commitment to growing broader basketball ecosystem in Nigeria and making the game more accessible across the country.
“Our first Jr. NBA clinic in Kano speaks to our commitment to growing the game in Nigeria and creating more opportunities for boys and girls to learn and play the game,” Abudu said.
“Nigeria has a rich basketball history and abundance of talent, which is evident every time you watch an NBA game. We look forward to continuing to engage with basketball stakeholders, business leaders and members of the community to further the game’s reach and impact on young people around the country,” she added.
The 2024 basketball initiative clinics of NBA Nigeria also included the league’s inaugural Jr. NBA elite camp for 150 boys and age-16 girls held at the American International School in Lagos in July.
Others include the NBA’s building of 1,000 courts in Africa over the next decade, Nigeria’s Festival Coins and Salubata named the top two winning businesses at NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator’s inaugural Demo Day in New York City held last September, and the third edition of “NBA Meets Art,” a curated installation celebrating basketball through the lens of Nigerian art and culture as part of West Africa’s premier art fair Art X Lagos, held in November.
Central to this vision is the federation’s investment in capacity building, evident in the just-concluded one-week Level 1 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Coaching Course, which marked a significant milestone for Nigerian badminton.
Held in Abuja, the course brought together 13 young coaches from across Nigeria. The last time such a course was held in the country was in 2017, making this a historic and transformative step.
The training was facilitated by the Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) in partnership with the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) and conducted by Dr. Ahmed Radah, the BCA Development Manager.
Radah, impressed by the talent he witnessed, praised Nigeria’s potential.
“Nigeria is blessed with immense talent and a strong badminton tradition. I believe this country has what it takes to dominate on the global stage,” he remarked.