After months of investigation, the truth as to why the executive committee of the Nigeria football federation, decided to annul the August 2nd Anambra FA election is becoming clearer with every passing day.
The latest from Awka, the busy capital of a state that goes with the nickname, LIGHT OF THE NATION, has it that, NFF president, Amaju Pinnick found a willing accomplice in Willie Obiano, the executive governor of Anambra state, a man who feels threatened by the mare mention of Senator Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah.
Obiano and Ubah are presently involved in popularity war in a state littered with the rich, the strong and the mighty.
Ubah has continued to outshine the governor in all spheres of human endeavors and is looking more like the heir apparent to the government house come 2021.
The emergence of FC Ifeanyi Ubah has also helped in no small measures to catapult Senator Ubah to the top of the log as the number one threat to Obiano and daily, he sleeps with one eye open, knowing that he needs to do something urgent to curtail this popularity and stamp his authority as the number one citizen of the state.
So when Pinnick showed up with this juicy proposal, it was too appealing to ignore.
Amaju had done his homework. He is a man on a mission. He is presently lobbying corporate bodies, state governors and even the federal government for support towards his CAF ambition after he was disgraced and sent packing from the continental football governing body where he served as vice president at some point.
The Delta state born football administrator has his eyes fixed on the throne and has gone about telling everyone who cares to listen that he will become the next CAF president.
A few governor’s have fallen for his prank. One of those is the governor of Abia state, the birthplace of his beautiful wife. Only recently he was in Rivers state to convince governor Nyesome Wike by proposing that the Flying Eagles and Golden Eaglets will return to Port Harcourt in the build up to their WAFU qualifiers.
He has forgotten too soon, how he jilted Wike and took the Super Eagles to Akwa Ibom state, the land flowing with milk and honey. When he is desperate, he can do anything to stay relevant.
Back to Anambra. One week before the botched August 2nd state FA election, Amaju arrived Awka, armed with a proposal detailing all his plans at reviving football in the state. He told Obiano that the secret to Senator Ubah’s political strength has to do with his investments in football and that, the earlier the state government works towards curtailing that, the better for governor Obiano and the All Progressive Grand Alliance APGA, in the buildup to the fast approaching gubernatorial election in Anambra state.
He told the governor that the time to stop Senator Ubah’s continued rise is now! And to do that, they must stop the FA election from going ahead.
It will be recalled that the Amaju Pinnick led NFF executive committee had initially approved of the process and gave the go ahead to the electoral committee led by Jude Anyadufu to conduct the election.
Infact, thesame NFF appointed the chairman of chairmen, Ibrahim Gusau to go supervise the election only to turn around and start singing a new song.
Our source, informed that, until his arrival in Awka, Gusau was not aware of the ploy, he only became aware of the details when the representatives of the governor briefed him at his hotel room in Awka. That informed his decision to leave for Abuja a day after he arrived Awka.
Before leaving, he instructed the Electoral committee to stop the process and obey the directives of the state governor who cited the rising cases of corona virus in the state as reason why the election cannot hold.
Our investigation have it that Amaju Pinnick allegedly submitted a 700m naira proposal to the governor as listed below.
- That Governor Obiano should immediately put in place a new football team that will be given a slot in the Nigeria National League and nurtured to take the place of FC Ifeanyi Ubah in the NPFL in the 2021 football season.
- That the state governor should immediately approve the renovation of the Awka stadium
- That the governor should nominate a candidate of his choice to contest in the state FA election after the tenure of the hurriedly constituted caretaker committee.
Our source confirmed that to this end, the NFF allegedly got a first installment of 100m naira from governor Obiano as cost for the NNL slot and another 100m naira for contracting the stadium to a reputable Nigerian firm.
Our investigation has it that, Mr Ebi Egbe ( Monimichelle) one of Amaju’s top cronies who was only recently awarded the contract for the FIFA Goal project in Delta State, has since been given the first installment of 100m naira to refurbish the Awka stadium.
This perhaps explains the new found love between Monimichelle and Amaju Pinnick. Both have been seen in three or four meetings of late, trying to tidy up loosed ends.
Infact, our very impeccable source confirned that only last week, Monimichelle got another installment of over 100m naira as he work will begin at the Awka stadium in due course.
Unfortunately, apart from Ibrahim Gusau, no other board member was carried along in this dirty game involving the NFF president and the executive governor of Anambra state all in their desperation to stop a man on a rise.
