Amaju Pinnick has been re-elected for a second four-year term as president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
Pinnick, 47, saw off the challenge of his predecessor, Aminu Maigari, and former NFF General Secretary and executive committee member Taiwo Ogunjobi to coast home by a landslide.
Pinnick polled 34 of the 44 votes on offer, with Maigari a distant second with eight votes, and Ogunjobi managing only two. Chinedu Okoye, the fourth man in the contest, got zero votes.
In the end, it wasn’t even close. Pinnick’s message of continuity and a self-sustaining football federation resonated with the NFF Congress.
Acknowledging the division which has torn the country’s football apart, Pinnick immediately promised reform and reconciliation.
“There is no victor, no vanquished here. We are all brothers,” he told reporters. “The first thing we need to do is to initiate reforms in our statutes.
“We need to capture things in our statutes to reflect true reconciliation and we have to do this right away.”
But it is doubtful if that message will appeal to Chris Giwa, or even mark the end of the troubles for Nigerian football, which has been embroiled in a leadership crisis with Giwa claiming to be the rightfully elected president of the federation since 2014.
Sports Minister Solomon Dalung stayed away from the elections, claiming it was an illegal process on the basis of a Supreme Court ruling. And there were rumours that Giwa had obtained a fresh court order to stop the election.
Support InfoStride News' Credible Journalism: Only credible journalism can guarantee a fair, accountable and transparent society, including democracy and government. It involves a lot of efforts and money. We need your support. Click here to Donate