By Eric Elezuo
To some, it was a work over, while to others, it was a well perfected strategy that took days of intrigues and finally culminating into a landslide victory for Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau to emerge as the new president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), replacing Mr. Amaju Pinnick.
A politician and former Minister for Agriculture and Industry, Gusau, who claimed victory in faraway Benin, is a combination of circular and football politics; both of which he is presently practicing paripasu and full time.
It is worthy of note that he contested unsuccessfully for the governorship seat in his home state, Zamfara and was a member of the 1977 and 1995 constitutional assembly, in addition to losing out of the Sokoto governorship in 1983.
Gusau, who many believed, is a statement by the north to reclaim the football house, previously served as a member of CAF’s CHAN organising committee, and was in April 2022 appointed as a new member of CAF’s Youth Organising Committee saddled with the responsibility of organising the U17, U20 and U23 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.
Having beaten nine others to claim the position, Gusau has promised to focus on developing grassroots football by rebuilding and rejuvenating domestic leagues if elected.
He said: “The NPFL, NNL, NLO and the NWFL for women league are key in the progress of Nigeria Football. If our leagues are vibrant, I believe the successes will reflect on the performances of our national teams,” he said when he declared his candidature.
“And for us to have strong national teams, both male and female, we have to focus on grassroots football which is the breeding ground for a better league.”
“Another area our administration will focus on is age grade football, for our national teams to prosper, the male U17, U20, U23 and their female counterparts will be given all necessary attention.”
“The senior national teams, Super Eagles and Super Falcons will surely get better if our cadet national teams are strong.”
Until his election as NFF president on Friday, Gusau was a CAF committee member and sat on the NFF board as the chairman of all states while serving as the chairman of the Zamfara Football Association.
He is also the former President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and the chairman of the NFF Security Committee.
A veteran sports adminstrator, Gusau, who is still actively involved in politic, and was among three candidates who successfully launched an appeal to nullify the Zamfara State primaries that brought in Dauda Lawan Dare as the People’s Democratic Party’s governorship candidate, ahead of the 2023 General Election, is expected to bring his wealth of administrative experience to the football house for a quick turnaround in Nigeria’s football woes.
He is coming to office at a time Nigeria’s football fortunes are at zero level having lost participating right in the forthcoming November World Cup in Qatar and next editions African Cup of Nations (AFCON). Ghana eliminated the country in the preliminaries for both competitions.
The age grade and female categories have not fared any better either in recent times. It is expected that Gusau will perform magic of some sort to restore the confidence of Nigerians in the national football teams.
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