Alhaji Galadima
Former Secretary General of the Nigeria Football Federation, (NFF) Bolaji Ojo-Oba, at the weekend scorned Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima, for allowing himself to be deceived that he could win a CAF Executive seat at the CAF General Assembly in Khartoum, Sudan.
Galadima, the former chairman of the NFF was the country’s official candidate to step into the CAF seat as an alternative to the incumbent, Dr Amos Adamu, currently on suspension. He, however, failed to win the seat last week despite a late lobby effort by Nigeria. He could only amass five votes from members of the congress.
Ojo-Oba, who is facing EFFC trial for financial crimes while he was at the Glass House, said it would be totally wrong to blame Adamu for Galadima’s woes.
He said that Galadima and his backers failed to properly analyze issues and should have realised that there was no vacancy in CAF.
He flayed Galadima and his team of lobbyists as a "bunch of self seeking opportunists" claiming to know it all.
He said that Galadima was bound to lose the election because as a non member of any of CAF sub committees, he was unknown to the body, and could not have won an executive slot.
"Why did Galadima and his think tank rush out of Nigeria for a vacancy that never existed? There is no point heaping the blame on Amos Adamu. Galadima’s backers displayed sheer ignorance of key issues governing football. Football is not run on sentiment; it is run on text. Unfortunately they failed to study the Statutes and ended allowing the country to be embarrassed because they were looking for a seat that was not empty," Ojo-Obasaid.
Ojo-Oba, a member of CAF Security Sub Committee, said that though Adamu is serving suspension for alleged breach of FIFA ethical codes, his seat could not be deemed to be vacant on that basis as he has not been expelled from CAF and by extension, FIFA.
According to him, Adamu was elected for a four-year term in Nigeria 2009 and his mandate will not elapse until 2013.
"He (Adamu) was suspended by an institution superior to him; not banned, not expelled. His mandate is still running,” he stressed.