President of Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Melvin Pinnick is the newest member of the FIFA Council.
Pinnick, who is in his second term as supremo of Nigerian football was voted in Rabat, Morocco at the 43rd Ordinary General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
His election into the Council follows his announcement as CAF’s 5th Vice President shortly after the emergence of South African billionaire, Patrice Motsepe as the new President.
He defeated Walter Nyamilandu of Malawi by 43 votes to 8 at the Congress which came up at the Royal Ballroom of the Sofitel Hotel in Morocco.
Four of Pinnick’s five challengers, Lamin Kaba Bajo (The Gambia), Wallace Karia (Tanzania), Nick Mwendwa (Kenya) and Andrew Kamanga (Zambia) agreed to give him free passage to aid his emergence.
Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated Pinnick on his new achievement at the world football governing body.
Pinnick was part of a wave of change that dawned on CAF three years ago as Cameroonian, Issa Hayatou was kicked out of office, losing to Madagascan Ahmad Ahmad.
Ahmad’s tenure was enmeshed in cases of corruption, financial mismanagement and nepotism. He got a long-term ban which has now been reduced to two years.
His exit came months after his open disagreements with Pinnick and some CAF bigwigs.