All the talk of a Nigerian Presidency of the Federation of International Football Associations
(FIFA) yesterday ended like hot air blown into a balloon, with the deadline for
submission of nomination expired last night, with neither Segun Odegbami nor Orji Uzor Kalu
submitting their forms, as at press time.
The two Nigerian gladiators, the former, a 1980 Nations Cup winner and the latter, a two-time
Governor of Abia State, had in the last couple of months been involved a two-way battle to get
the nod of the Amaju Pinnick-led Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation to run
for the biggest office in world football.
Since it became clear that Sepp Blatter’s successor would emerge at an
extraordinary congress next February 26, the race for the plum job has
assumed an intense and frenetic pace, with many self-professed football
buffs entering the fray, with little or no understanding of the dynamics
involved to aspire for the position.
While the NFF had earlier hesitated to back Odegbami and Kalu, it later
buckled, with reports that it endorsed Odegbami, who we however gathered
as at press time, was yet to file his nomination with FIFA.
As at the filing of this report, only seven candidates had submitted their
nominations, with UEFA supporting a ‘holding’ application from its general
secretary, Gianni Infantino.
Sports Vanguard can report authoritatively that Odegbami and Kalu might
have fallen off the way because of the qualification demands, which
comprise a minimum of five written endorsements from national football federations plus a
declaration of a role in the game in two of the past five years.
Besides the submission of their nomination forms, all aspiring contenders will have their
submissions put through an integrity test by the Ethics Committee before being confirmed,
formally, as candidates to stand to succeed Blatter on February 26.
For clarification purpose, the seven hopefuls vying for Blatter’s position include Prince Ali bin Al
Hussein of Jordan, Musa Bility, who is the President of the Liberian Football Federation, Jerome
Champagne, Gianni Infantino, who is the General Secretary of UEFA, David Nakhid, a one time
Trinidad international, Michel Platini, who is the suspended President of UEFA and Tokyo
Sexwale, a South African businessman and head of FIFA’s Palestine-Israel Monitoring
Commission.
However confusion surrounded a planned candidacy from Asian Confederation head, Sheikh
Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain, with suggestions that he might have been advised to
step back after last-minute negotiations because of his alleged role in the detention and
torture of footballers and other athletes in a Bahrain crackdown in 2011. But Sheikh Salman has
always denied the claims.
The Nigerian no-show is bound to be a bizzare end to a late-minute foray into the global
politics of world football by Odegbami and Kalu, who had hitherto been advised to withdraw
their intentions because of their perceived lightweight status.
They were expected to have toed the way of the likes of Zico, David Ginola, Ramon Vega who all
withdrew from the race after earlier declaring their intentions to succeed Blatter.
Interestingly, Zico, who like Odegbami, is a Brazilian legend, on seeking the support of his own
Brazilian confederation, was told it would back him only if he could first find four other
countries willing to nominate him, which sadly he was unable to find.

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/10/fifa-presidency-no-nigerian-in-sight-as-deadline-ends/

As usual

ok

Nigerians are unserious beings... Only good in witch hunting and back biting ... With great tribalistic tendencies.. Wish we can borrow leaders frm Europe...