NFF Elections: I have unfinished business, says Akinwunmi

The First Vice President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Seyi Akinwunmi says the need to continue with various programmes geared towards football development in the country is one of the reasons he’s re-contesting for the post, NationSport reports.

Elections into offices of the NFF will hold on Thursday in Katsina and Akinwunmi, who was among the dignitaries present at the unveiling ceremony of Bet9ja as a sponsor of the 2018 Lagos SWAN Cup, however, believes the elections is not a do or die affair.

When asked why he wants to come back, the Lagos FA Chairman simply said, “Because I have an unfinished business.”

Speaking further, the experienced football administrator said, “There is everything to be worried about an election because you have not won the election until you have won it. It is not the end of the world, we really still need to do our work. Whatever happens, I’m still the first vice president of the NFF until Thursday, I’m still the Lagos chairman until the next elections and therefore, this is part of my duty. Because I’m having an election doesn’t mean I should shelve my duties and it doesn’t mean that I am not worried. My worry is that the elections need to go very well. There are some people who have lost elections, they did not die because of that and I won’t.

“There is a lot to be done. We’ve had the Zenith U-13 and U-15 for boys, so we need to do the girls. The reason we don’t have girls edition is that many states don’t play junior female football. So we need an enlightenment campaign in those states and regions to ensure that they allow the girls to play. So we are trying to set up what is called “Let the girls play”.

“There are so many other things we need to do beyond youth football. For example, in our competitions department, we need to ensure that it is digitalised. This is because a lot of the shortcomings that we had, sometimes it’s not fair to blame the staff because there is so much movement, so many things are changing day by day and it can only be matched with digitalisation. So those are some of the things we want to do and we pray to God and with the support of the president, whom we pray and trust would be Amaju Pinnick, we will be able to get to where we are going.”

Reacting to the news that a group of people are making moves to procure a court injunction to stop the elections, the Lagos State FA boss said, “Whether they have procured the injunction or not, we will handle the situation. I’m a lawyer, but I’m not in this as a lawyer but as a sports administrator. As far as we are concerned, as at today, the elections are due on Thursday and we are focused solely on that. If we keep on focusing on negatives, then we will not move forward. In my opinion, anybody who is thinking that somebody is worried because they are going to court is mistaken. The courts are for everyone. We have our views and as far as we are concerned, all that is on our mind is the election so that we can move forward.