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Issa Hayatou

Collins Okinyo in NAIROBI, Kenya
THE knives of Issa Hayatou, the deposed leader of CAF, are out against the new leadership of the body as plans are firmly underway to seek to annul the result that brought Ahmad to power with claims of FIFA Ethics breaches.

Hayatou loyalists, who have been suddenly stripped of their powers in the corridors of African football in the wake of the defeat in April, are seeking to overturn the election result at the Swiss-based body and bring the Cameroonian back to office.

Shocked at the outcome of Africa’s presidential election that saw the overthrow of long-time power-broker Hayatou after three decades in charge, allies will roll out back-door plans to get back into office or derail Ahmad’s attempts to reform the game on the continent.

This is the latest putsch sought by Hayatou after his first attempt failed with his claim that Gianni Infantino played a key role in influencing the result in favour of Ahmad because the FIFA president attended Zifa president Philip Chiyangwa’s birthday, who had openly called for the Cameroonian to go.

Aides close to the long-standing CAF leader have now reported a fresh claim to a British newspaper alleging that the Egyptian government provided money to influence voters to overthrow Hayatou after three decades in charge.

They will further allege at the FIFA Ethics Committee that the Egyptian government used the new vice president of CAF Kwesi Nyantakyi to influence the voters with the funds even though they have not provided evidence to back their claims.

Nyantakyi was the arch-strategist for Ahmad’s election victory as he used his experience as an insider on the CAF Executive Committee to put together the masterplan for the door-to-door campaign that secured the win.

Bitter over the election result, it was also evident that Hayatou’s henchmen will also focus their lenses on Nyantakyi, who had fallen out with the Cameroonian for backing candidates against the astute Ghanaian lawyer, who is now the first vice president of the Cairo-based body.

The new second vice president, Constant Omari, who was once a Hayatou loyalist, but switched camp to add his expertise to secure the victory, will also not be spared in the assault through the FIFA Ethics Committee claim.

It is not known if the FIFA Ethics Committee will entertain the claims if they are filed, but the Egyptian government will be angry at the claims they influenced the result.

The besmirching of the Egyptian government by Hayatou loyalists will not derail the plans to put the Cameroonian on trial for violating the laws of the North African country by secretly awarding a 12-year marketing and television contract to French company Lagardere.

This acrimony surrounding the election was evident after the results were declared and a fight-back from the Hayatou camp was expected given the Cameroonian’s full-blooded response. — soka25east.