CAF clarifies Pinnick’s position, appoints Mosengo-Omba as General Secretary

THE Confederation of African Football has clarified that Amaju Pinnick is not one of the body’s vice-presidents.

The Nigeria Football Federation President was elected into the FIFA Council on Friday and also widely mentioned in the media as the fifth vice-president.

However, CAF officially unveiled its five vice-presidents on Saturday, with the Nigerian’s name missing.

The five vice-presidents to serve along with new President Patrice Motsepe, as listed in an official statement on Saturday after the Executive Committee’s meeting in Rabat, Morocco, are: First Vice-President, Augustin Senghor;  Second Vice-President, Ahmed Yahya; Third Vice-President, Suleiman Waberi; Fourth Vice-President, Seidou Mbombo Njoya, and Fifth Vice President, Kanizat Ibrahim.

The CAF Executive Committee also approved the appointment of Veron Mosengo-Omba as the new General Secretary to replace Abdelmounaim Bah, who had occupied the role on an acting capacity.

World football  governing body FIFA also confirmed that Mosengo-Omba would leave his role as Chief Officer of the FIFA member associations (MAs) division with immediate effect to take on the position of CAF General Secretary.

Mosengo-Omba, who is from the Democratic Republic of Congo, joined FIFA in 2016 as Chief Member Associations Officer with responsibility for Africa and the Caribbean, and subsequently spent the past two years supporting all FIFA 211 MAs to implement the FIFA Forward development programme, as well as managing relationships with all FIFA MAs and continental confederations in his role as Chief Officer of the division.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino and FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura issued a joint statement to express their gratitude for the work tha Mosengo-Omba did at the world body.

“On behalf of all of FIFA, we would like to thank Véron Mosengo-Omba for his excellent work and wish him the very best of luck in his next challenge as CAF General Secretary,” it read.

“FIFA also looks forward to working with him on future projects in helping to project African football to the summit of world football.”