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.
Maigari, the immediate past president of the NFF, was expected to provide the stiffest opposition to Pinnick’s ambition of becoming the first man to win and serve a second term as NFF president.
In the end, it wasn’t even close. Pinnick’s message of continuity and a self-sustaining football federation resonated with the NFF Congress.
But victory may not be the end of the troubles for Nigerian football, which has been embroiled in a leadership crisis with Chris Giwa claiming he was the rightfully elected president of the federation.
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.
Pinnick will — barring further disruption — lead the NFF until 2022.
Vice-President Seyi Akinwunmi also won by a landslide, polling 42 out of 44 votes to win re-election.
If Pinnick serves his term, he will be the first person ever to serve two consecutive terms. Ibrahim Galadima won re-election in 2006, but was forced to resign soon after.
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