What informed your decision to join the race?
There is a vacancy in FIFA and it requires a new kind of leadership. For Sepp Blatter to step down as a result of accusations of corruption and over time, he has now seen that it has affected a lot of members of the executive and even those outside to the extent that the integrity of the organisation has been affected. FIFA needs a new leader who was not part of the old rot, I mean those who have not been afflicted with this scandal. Given that scenario, FIFA needs a leader with knowledge, experience and more than anything, integrity.
I look at myself, well, I know I have disadvantages. Firstly, I am an African, secondly, I am a Nigerian, thirdly I am a blackman and fourthly, not many people know my antecedents outside from playing football. They know that I played football prominently for my country and club, but they don’t know the other aspect of my life outside football. So, it is going to be extremely difficult for somebody like me to become FIFA president, but as I keep saying, it’s like a lottery, you can never win lottery except you bought a ticket. It’s not about soliciting for votes. Let us put our credentials, our character, our integrity forward and see what happens.
For whatever reasons, it will come to a point an African will be considered FIFA president because Europe has held it seven times and South America once. So it should be the turn of an African and that is why I have put my name forward. My sermon is that let’s give an African a chance this time. I believe I have the credentials, integrity and enough knowledge across the spectrum of football to contest properly for the FIFA presidency.
What about the financial implication as it is believed that it involves moving round all the continents soliciting for votes?
Well, when Sepp Blatter was going to contest for the FIFA presidency, did he come to Nigeria? People don’t understand how it works particularly this time. How can anybody visit all the 209 countries that make up FIFA and you have a few weeks to the election? It is practically impossible.
Secondly, we are talking on issues of money and corruption, so, what are you going to use the money for?
If a candidate cannot travel to all the countries, what is the money meant for? Are you going to bribe for votes or what? It cannot work this time because you don’t know who is monitoring. In fact, the eyes of the world are on the issue of football and leadership. So, everybody is being careful, there is nothing like needing money and even if it is needed, who says I cannot afford the basic needs of life. For me to contest, I can afford the cost of electionering and secondly I am not representing myself. My country will definitely support me not necessarily in terms of funding but logistics and political contacts.
How do you want to solicit for votes?
Nobody can move around all the FIFA-member countries canvassing for votes; we have not even got to that point. In fact, the deadline for the submission of nomination for the FIFA presidential election is, October 26 but we have not heard anything from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) yet.
After the nominations for the poll have been sent to FIFA, it will look at the list of all the applicants and see those who have met the requirements and even conduct an integrity test. FIFA will find out if the candidate been suspended before, has it been indicted before and so on before it will now come out with the list of those who are eligible to contest for the election. After that, then one can start planning for the election campaign which must be strategic. It is not even about junketing around the world. So, we know this and we are working towards.
Nigeria can only present a candidate for the election and you have another Nigerian (Chief Orji Uzor Kalu) in the race, what do you think is going to happen?
Of course, I have made my intention known that I want to contest for the FIFA presidency, it doesn’t matter who is picked. I know that you must provide an evidence that you have been actively involved in football activitity in your country for two years in the last five years and the only way to prove that is through the endorsement of the football federation.
It’s the football federation that will attest to the choice of the candidate and that means, they must have done their test before the nomination of the candidate. When you have two persons, then the NFF will have to pick one nominee and that is it.
In other words, you have to get endorsements from any five countries after the nomination by your country, it is not that these countries will even vote for you and lastly, you have to pass the integrity test which FIFA will conduct before you can stand for the election proper.
What is going to happen if eventually, NFF did not endorse your candidature?
I can’t seek any endorsement from any country when my country has not nominated me uptill now and we have days. It is left to the NFF to decide on who to pick as Nigeria’s nominee. I am okay by NFF’s choice. Everybody knows. I have played my own part, there is no word yet from the NFF. However, I cannot start to speculate on what has not happened, let’s wait and see first.
Tribune
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