Pinnick: Only Africa’s finest will fly continent’s flag at FIFA Council

In the past four years, Melvin AmajuPinnick has been a member of the FIFA Council, which is the highest decision making body of world football. The position entails making several sacrifices, including globetrotting and meeting with people with different ideologies and contributing ideas that would shape the sport globally.

Coming into the FIFA Council just after the past decade of scandals and disaffection among football stakeholders, the 37-member body, to its credit, has been able to stabilise the polity and ensure that the world football governing body is in a good financial state. But Pinnick said that FIFA’s current position is just the beginning of a journey that would make it the biggest sports brand on earth.

Fielding questions, at the weekend, on his tenure in the FIFA Council so far, Pinnick said the “journey has been wonderful because the vision of our leader, Gianni Infantino, was very clear from the beginning: integrity, financial success and impacting hugely on the member associations and I think those three things were accomplished beyond anybody’s imagination,” pointing at “the organisationof tournaments and making tournaments a veritable platform to attract respect, attract sponsors and to redeem the image of FIFA, especially after the incidents of about 10 years ago.”

Looking at the body’s current state, Pinnick said that FIFA is in a wonderful position in terms of its finances and organisation of tournaments, explaining, “you can imagine the tournament in Qatar three years ago, the Women’s World Cup in Australia/New Zealand as well as the various youth championships.”

On the continental football body, CAF, Pinnick said African football has grown in leaps because of the quality of leadership given by Patrice Motsepe.

“Again, our leader, Patrice Motsepe’s vision is clear. You saw what happened in the last Nations Cup; it was different. For the first time in the history of the competition, about $16 million, out of the over $70 million generated went to solidarity. These are things that happen when you have leaders with a clear vision and the elected followers key in or align with that vision.”

On his famed close relationship with Gianni Infantino, Pinnick said that the FIFA president is at home with all the African leaders because he loves Africa. “He believes that Africa has limitless potential. His relationship is not limited to me. He likes practically everybody and I know he is close to many of us.

“Trust me, Gianni is a fantastic individual. Even with his towering background, he comes down to everybody’s level. He wants to solve every problem around you; he wants to be there for you. He is somebody that has ignited this paradigm shift, where the relationship is now based on me and you and not about boss to subordinates.”

The former Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) dismissed the belief that he is one of the most powerful people in world football, saying that there are many influential football persons in African football, who have decided to rally support for the leadership of the body. He said: “That influence is enabled by your allegiance to the leadership. That is why all of us in CAF and FIFA have pledged allegiance to the CAF president and the FIFA president to advance football globally. We are 100 per cent loyal to both CAF and FIFA presidents’ vision.”

On the FIFA Council elections, where 10 candidates are vying for the five positions available to Africa, as well as CECAFA and COSAFA’s recent joint statement pledging their support for Zambia’s FA President, Andrew Kamanga, Pinnick said it is all part of the CAF politics.

“Appodarai, in his book Substance of Politics, defines politics as ‘politics is politics.’ That politics is vague. This means that it is a definition where the definiens(that which is to be defined) do not tell us about the defiendum (that which has been defined). I rest my case.

“You see, we have seen it before and we are happy that the unions made that statement. But one thing I know is that I have friends all over Africa and this election is not between Amaju and Andrew Kamanga, no. Amaju is running against nine people and Kamanga is running against nine people. Like in athletics, the first five to breast the tape will win the race. It is not me against Kamanga. Kamanga is my friend, an amazing guy, he has uplifted Zambian football. We have done things together several times and I will be shocked if Kamanga doesn’t vote for me. Honestly, I will be shocked.

“We have friends in COSAFA, CECAFA, WAFU A, WAFU B, in North Africa and I must say that the 10 contestants are all competent and it is within their right to want to run for the office. It is normal and inevitable and we can convince them to allow us to continue. Power resides with God and it is not a do-or-die affair. So long as everybody is looking at ways to advance African football it is ok with me. When I see people trying to create bitterness, it is unfortunate. Some people are saying that it is only the president who can be in the FIFA council. That is unfortunate. They just want to heat the polity. At the appropriate time, we will respond to that. But I want to tell you that all the candidates are immensely qualified to run. All of the candidates are successful in their businesses and have transferred that success to their football.

“Are you going to talk about Hani AbouRida, who is one of the most experienced administrators in Africa? Is it about Faouzi, who took Africa to the first semifinal at the World Cup? Or is Senghor, who has led Senegal to win everything? These are the type of people you cannot wish away. Their experience cannot be wished away.”

He credits the CAF board for the great improvements in African football, saying that the body has built bridges and enabled close relationships that have uplifted the sports in the continent.

“Motsepe inherited a CAF that was littered with all sorts of controversy. He has been able to clean up the polity and strengthen CAF’s finances in the last four years. He brought integrity to the polity and it has helped us.

“As I said earlier, we are going to be more intentional in the next four years. We have laid the foundation and built bridges and because of our loyalty to the centre, we will advance the game in the continent.

“Our leaders are men of integrity, who have put their reputation in the service of football. In 2008, Patrice was voted as the only black billionaire without government patronage. That is the person who sits on the board and still listens to you. He doesn’t throw anything to you and insists it must be done his way.”

According to Pinnick, African football will continue to soar if the leadership gets the required support to implement their programmes. “That is why we should all support Motsepe to continue what he is doing for African football,” he said, adding: “On my re-election, I can tell you freely that I am a child of God, and I believe in divinity. When I saw the publication that I have 18 votes, I just laughed. There are investigative journalists all over the continent and I think somebody looked at the elections and came out with that number. Even if I have 18 votes, I will not come out to say that I have 18 votes. The truth is that COSAFA and CECAFA have 26 votes and the same 26 voters will vote for all the candidates, including Amaju.

“I know my friends and I can tell you for free that I have friends all over in all the zones and I believe my friends will not let me down, they have never let me down. But everything depends on what God Almighty wants us to achieve this time around.”

Pinnick reiterated that the FIFA Council headed by Infantino has empowered member associations beyond their imagination, adding that FIFA now has four offices in Africa and many others across the world that monitor all the programmes.

He explained that CAF changed the mode of election into the FIFA Council to remove the bottleneck of ethnicity and allow the best five to represent Africa no matter where they come from.

“It was agreed that even if the best five come from the Arab Zone or any other zone, they will go there to represent Africa.

“Hayatou was there for 29 years and he did his best. Motsepe has now been there for four years. They are trying to streamline it so that after three tenures for the president, another person will take over.”

On the home front, Pinnick credits the Federal Government for the successes he has achieved in football administration, saying, “without the help from the Presidency, the Federal Ministry of External Affairs and the National Sports Committee, we wouldn’t be where we are now.

“I owe so much to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and I promise that I will continue to do my best to raise the country’s flag high. I cannot betray the trust the presidency has in me.”