Ghana’s candidate for a seat on the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football (Caf) must have thought he was having a nightmare. The 43 year old financial and legal expert has dismissed suggestions that he will step down for his opponent from Benin to have an easy win on election day.
Prior to his arrival here in Khartoum, there had been widespread rumours by the Hayatou backed Moucharaf Anjorin that the GFA boss would withdraw from the race at the eleventh hour. In fact that has been the grand battle plan of the FA boss from Benin.
In what fell just short of an angry response, Nyantakyi rubbished the claims, ‘This is the work of a few desperate people who should rather be campaigning based on their strengths and not their wild imaginations.....I am here for serious business and not for antics that would distract me from my mission’.
Nyantakyi is seen as a serious and credible contender having canvassed support from what has traditionally been an anti Anglophone bloc within CAF.
Even if his key allies within the powerful French speaking constituency suddenly desert him at the last moment, he may still scrape through with the so called back benchers and floating voters scattered across the congress.
Another source of optimism for the Ghanaian was the withdrawal of Tata Avlessi the former Togo FA boss who has now thrown his weight behind Nyantakyi. There is talk of candidates with campaign budgets of a couple of million US dollars to spare, there are the regional alliances that can always have a say and most significantly, there is the imposing and perhaps intimidating shadow of CAF President Issa Hayatou who it is alleged, is the financier of Anjourin’s campaign.
The secret vote on Wednesday could go either way. There is no such thing as outright favourite, guaranteed or promised votes. The cash that ‘‘may’’ be thrown away or invested depending on the outcome could easily run into millions of dollars.
You can see the glint in many eyes and the anxiety etched on the faces of those who know that their time is up. Indeed unless there is a major shift in choice of votes, I am convinced that CAF is about to witness the most far reaching changes witnessed by the body.
Meanwhile it has emerged that there could be a further boost for the Nyantakyi camp. CAF match commissioner Hima Souley of Niger may also give up his candidacy. The former FA boss is good friends with Ghana’s former FA boss Lepowura M.N.D Jawula and was in charge of Niger football for 10 years.
He even has a number of business interests in Accra and frequents the Ghanaian capital on a regular basis. All that could count for nought as he remains tight lipped about whether he is just in the race to drop out for Nyantakyi or for Anjourin.
The bottom line is simple. Behind the smiles, handshakes, warm embraces and even kisses, the knives have been drawn. Make no mistake about it, Wednesday’s 33rd General Assembly of Caf will be ‘‘bloody’’ in football administrative parlance but at the end of the day, no ‘‘blood’’ will be spilt and the newly elected CAF executives would move on to embrace the new challenges confronting African Football.
Credit: Yaw Ampofo Ankrah in Sudan
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