CAF ELECTION: NFF SHIFTS SUPPORT TO GALADIMA

Galadima
Failed attempt by the suspended FIFA Executive Committee member, Dr. Amos Adamu, to upturn the sanction handed him by the FIFA Ethics Committee, has forced the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, to run back, tail between its legs, to Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima ahead of the forthcoming CAF elections later this month in Sudan.

The NFF, it was gathered, had scurried back to Alhaji Galadima whom the federation had temporarily stopped campaign for in the belief that Dr. Adamu's appeal would be uphelp and there would not be any need to continue with the support for Kano State born soccer administrator.

But barely a few hours after the FIFA Appeals Committee insisted that Adamu and his colleague from Oceania remained banned and out of football, the NFF's President called Alhaji Galadima to explain the federation's new position. Alhaji Galadima confirmed to Daily Sunsports that the leadership of the NFF had called him from Zurich to speak to him on the elections holding in Sudan.

'The NFF's president called me to reopen talks on my candidacy for the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) seat. However, I want to believe that what he did was on a personal note. I'm hoping that by Monday, they would make an official statement. Until then, I'll keep my fingers crossed,' he said.

The idea to abandon the Kano State former sports commissioner and the Nigeria Football Administration's, NFA, ex-chairman midway had infuriated Galadima who raised alarm over the attitude of the football house and noted that it was uncalled for to have come to him in the first place if it believed so much in the appeal of Dr. Adamu, whom he had nominated for the CAF and FIFA jobs when he held sway as the boss of Nigeria's FA.

Alhaji Galadima had said that his quest to join the executive committee of the CAF was not of his making until he was nominated by the NFF for the position. 'I'm not desperate for the position and never lobbied to be nominated.'

Galadima said he was merely concerned about what becomes of Nigeria's image, as the current controversy has repeatedly made Nigeria look like a corrupt nation, adding that, 'No one was born a CAF/FIFA executive member and no one will so die.