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President of Nigeria Football Federation(NFF), Amaju Pinnick, could be set to take over as the acting president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) following the arrest of CAF President, Ahmad Ahmad, by French authorities on Friday.
Ahmad was arrested due to allegations of corruption and financial misappropriation involving a French company, Tactical steel.
CAF’s by-laws stipulates that, Pinnick, who is the first vice president, will assume the president’s duties for a transitional period of four months before convening an elective extraordinary meeting.
“If the President ceases exercising his functions on a permanent basis the first VicePresident shall assume the presidency, and shall be obliged to convene an Extraordinary General Assembly, in accordance with these Statutes. The Extraordinary General Assembly shall elect a new President, within a period not exceeding four(4) months from the time the office of President becomes conclusively vacant,” the law states.
Pinnick was appointed CAF’s first vice president in July 2018 after Kwesi Nyatakyi stepped down following a corruption scandal.
Pinnick is also facing his own corruption allegation along with four other top NFF officials.
He has been ordered to appear before a Nigerian court over several corruption allegations.
They were accused of failing to declare their assets as required by law, alleged misappropriation of US$8.4 million paid to Nigeria for participating in the 2014 World Cup and being unable to account for N4bn belonging to the NFF.