Nigeria’s Amaju Pinnick has emerged as one of the Vice Presidents of the Confederation of African Football [CAF] at the ongoing 43rd Ordinary General Assembly taking place in Rabat, Morocco.
The Nigeria Football Federation boss is now the fifth Vice President in the new arrangement by the continent’s football governing body who hitherto had only three vice presidents.
Before this latest return, Pinnick was CAF First Vice President between September 2018 and July 2019 under former CAF president, Ahmad Ahmad.
However, a sour relationship with Mr Ahmad saw Pinnick lose out on his seat in 2019.
DR Congo’s Constant Omari is the new 1st Vice-President followed by Morocco’s Faouzi Lekjaa.
After Friday’s poll, the trio of Augustin Senghor, Ahmed Yahya, Souleiman Waberi who all stepped down for Patrice Motsepe to emerge as President were returned as Vice Presidents in that order.
Faouzi Lekjaa and Pinnick are the fourth and fifth vice presidents respectively
Meanwhile, Pinnick is also one of the aspirants for the FIFA Executive Committee post. The field for this race has been narrowed from six to four for the Anglophone candidates seeking Africa’s places in the FIFA Council.
In the list of eligible candidates released by CAF, the names of Gambia’s Lamin Kaba Bajo and Tanzania’s Wallace Karia are missing, an indication that they are no longer candidates.
In all, Africa will have six slots including the position of a FIFA Vice President which automatically goes to the CAF president.
The FIFA Council consists of 37 members: one President, elected by the FIFA Congress; eight vice presidents, and 28 other members elected by member associations – each for a term of four years.
If he succeeds, Pinnick will be the third Nigerian to make it into the FIFA Exco Council after Oyo Orok Oyo and Amos Adamu.