NFF Election: South West positions candidate to tussle with Gusau 

NFF Election: South West positions candidate to tussle with Gusau 

The tenure of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau is gradually winding down and as expected the jostle to replace him is hotting up.

However, it's not without the usual schemings and realignment of forces against the reelection of the incumbent.

According to a source close to the Glass House, the oiling of instruments of war started during the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco but has now shifted to Nigeria where the football is no longer the topic but the politics. 

A Nigerian journalist based in Canada, Wale Ajayi, in a report, wrote the gladiators have started whispering, phone calls drag into midnight as discussions centered on who stays and who goes in the fast approaching NFF Elections from north to south and east to west.

He reveals the midnight crawlings have began. Men stay awake all night, trying to make new friends by selling their manifestoes and expecting a favourable reply. 

Ajayi said a former vice president of the Federation is being backed by his colleagues in the south west to wrestle power from Gusau and appears making inroads into the northern base of the incubent.

 The former NFF Vice president, according to the report, as he has worked so hard to catch few attentions. 

"He is well connected in the government, his relationship with the Chief of Staff to the president of the federal republic, Femi Gbajabiamila is very well documented. 

The report added that a few FA chairmen have been contacted in the recent days and discussions are ongoing "but the truth is, they have found a brick wall in the present leadership of the National Sports Commission". 

What is perhaps swinging the NSC's favour to the side of the incumbent, according to the report,  is the wait for a face saving FIFA verdict that could return Nigeria to the World Cup playoffs. 

"As it stands, Ibrahim Gusau is still the chosen one, but he may need to make a big sacrifice to keep his seat. That's is where the general secretary, Mohammed Sanusi comes in. 

"He seem the most likely sacrificial lamb available to appease the gods. 

 Standing on the wings are two other young insiders from the South West.  Both are secretarial staff in the present NFF, they have not hidden their intention to take over from their principal and have taken their campaigns farther than anyone could imagine. It is nothing hidden so they cannot be be pushed aside in the scheme of things. 

"For the position of board members, that is where the real intrigues lies. The South West will most certainly produce two new board members. The truth is, there is a young man in the south that is spending so much and is daily winning souls. If the elections should hold tonight, he will stroll unhindered into the board. 

Ajayi sees the South East losing out on all fronts. "South East may have to do with just a league board chairmanship position as it is obvious from all indication that their present representative in the board is not pulling his weight as expected and might be pushed aside. 

"The truth is, the South West in their negotiation might go for the position of General secretary and Vice President as a condition to leave the post of president and chairman of chairmen to the Notth. 

"What that means is that the South East could get a league board chairmanship seat and the position of chairman technical as available compensation."