JOHANNESBURG (AFP) –
Cameroonian strongman Issa
Hayatou will be re-elected
unopposed in Morocco on
Sunday for a final four-year
term as Confederation of
African Football (CAF)
president.
The 66-year-old, voted into
power during the 1988 Cup
of Nations in the north
African kingdom, told
reporters last month that this
would be last period as boss
of the 54-state organisation.
His decision to carry on took
some observers by surprise
with World Soccer magazine
reporting that he is suffering
from kidney failure that
requires dialysis every
second day.
Ivorian Jacques Anouma, one
of four Africans on the
executive committee of
world governing body FIFA,
wanted to oppose Hayatou
at the CAF congress in
Marrakech, but a change to
the election rules disqualified
him.
Anouma and the Ivorian and
Liberian football associations
made four appeals to the
Switzerland-based Court for
Arbitration in Sport (CAS) in
an effort to overturn the
ruling, but it backed CAF each
time.
The 60-year-old Ivorian
believes Hayatou was behind
a successful Algerian
proposal at a special
congress in the Seychelles
last year to amend the rules
and restrict the CAF
presidency to voting
members of the executive
committee.
Although permitted to attend
CAF executive meetings,
Anouma cannot vote
because he is not an elected
member, and the 44-6
verdict in favour of the
change suggests he would
have suffered a heavy
election defeat by Hayatou.
The Cameroonian has been
challenged twice during his
lengthy reign and both
opponents, Armando
Machedo of Angola and
Ismail Bhamjee of Botswana,
suffered humiliating losses.
“It is a scandalous
manoeuvre which belongs to
a past era,” complained
Anouma. “Our continent
deserves a confederation
that is truly democratic,
transparent and ready to
face the real challenges.”
But there has been no
shortage of support for
Hayatou, the son of a sultan
from northern cotton city
Garoua who represented
Cameroon at basketball and
middle-distance running.
“Hayatou has offered a new
platform for African football
with innovative competitions
like the African Nations
Championship and we
unanimously renewed our
trust in his leadership,” said
central Africa region boss Iya
Mohammed.
West Africa region official
Jammeh Bojang said: “We
pledge our continuous
support for Hayatou to lead
African football. The game
has seen many changes in
development and we are
solidly behind his stay in
office.”
Hayatou is the fifth CAF
president and by far the
longest serving ahead of
Ethiopian Ydnekatchew
Tessema (15 years), Egyptian
Abdel Aziz Moustafa (10),
Sudanese Abdel Halim
Mohammad (5) and Egyptian
Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem (1).
Apart from crowning
Hayatou, there will be
elections for four executive
committee positions while
Algerian Mohamed
Raouraoua (North) and
Sudanese Magdi Sham El Din
(Centre-East) return
unopposed.
Former South African
politician Danny Jordaan, one
of the officials credited with
a successful 2010 World Cup
in his country, is among six
challengers for two South
seats.
CAF vice-president Suketu
Patel from the Seychelles is
expected to top the polling
with Jordaan set to finish
second ahead of officials
from Madagascar,
Mozambique, Namibia and
Swaziland.
Among four candidates for a
West A seat is Malian
Amadou Diakite, banned by
FIFA for two years in 2010
over alleged bribery in the
vote-buying scandal around
the 2018 and 2022 World
Cup hosting.
The draw for the Cup of
Nations qualifying
competition — home-and-
away preliminary ties this
year and a six-round group
phase next year — is also
scheduled for this weekend
with Morocco exempt as
2015 hosts.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/03/final-four-year-term-for-caf-boss-hayatou/

Still wanna carry on when nursing a kidney failure which places him on a dialyses every 2days!
Well, what does one expect from a typical camerounian in power?
Ahmadou Ahidjo became president when cameroun became independent on jan 1 1960 to 1982 when he was forced to vacate power by his deteriorating health handing over power to the prime minister, Paul Biya. Paul Biya started ruling since that 1982 till date.