During the week I saw a letter from the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF to FIFA Secretary General registering Nigeria’s support for the re-election of Gianni infantino as FIFA president posted by my colleague, Charles Anazodo. I then remembered the actions of Infantino at the ongoing World Cup which has brought disrepute to football and its organisation. Strikingly, no word of dissent from any African country, that is the federations or the head of their continental body, CAF, Dr. Patrice Motsepe. Last Friday however, a lone voice from Africa spoke through a letter another colleague, Osasa Obayiuwana published. That brought joy to my heart that if all African football administrators could be bought, not all could. One African voice, Adjib Koulamallah, former deputy secretary general of the Chadian FA raised his voice in support of Europe’s football governing body, UEFA to condemn Infantino’s actions. I bring you his Open Letter to Infantino courtesy of Obayiuwana. Mr. President, I speak at the very moment when my entire continent remains silent. And I want to begin by explaining why it is silent. Africa is not silent out of ignorance. Our football federation leaders see what the whole world sees. Nor is Africa silent out of indifference: nowhere is football more loved, more passionately lived, or more essential than here. Africa is silent because its silence has been budgeted for. Every federation waits for its development grant, its FIFA Forward project, its synthetic pitch, its new headquarters. There is no need to buy anyone outright; it is enough to create dependency, and dependency does the rest. Those who criticize know what they risk delaying; those who applaud know what they hope to accelerate. A quarter of FIFA’s electorate thus votes as one, election cycle after election cycle, and we are expected to believe this is unity. It is not unity. It is a mortgage on our dignity, repayable in silence. As for me, I owe nothing and expect nothing. I served my federation for eight years, chaired a football club for seventeen, and I am a magistrate by profession: judging the powerful by their actions is my job. So I will say openly, under my own name, what is whispered in every official football stand across Africa. And I begin by reminding you where you came from. In February 2016, you arrived amid the ruins of the Blatter system, only months after U.S. authorities arrested senior football officials at dawn in Zurich’s luxury hotels. You were not a candidate despite those scandals—you were a candidate because of them. You promised a new FIFA: transparent, ethical, and reconciled with integrity. You swore the institution would never again become what it had been. Ten years later, what do we see? Political awards invented to suit particular individuals, disciplinary sanctions erased by telephone calls, tournaments awarded without com- petition, an Ethics Committee reduced to silence, and once again the U.S. federal justice system knocking at football’s door—right in the middle of your World Cup. You are no better than what you claimed to replace. You have simply become better at choosing your friends. I denounce what has just happened before our eyes during your World Cup. On July 1st, an American player was sent off in the Round of 16. The rule has always been the same for everyone: red card, suspension. The President of the United States, whom you openly call your friend, telephones you. Then, on Sunday, your Disciplinary Committee erases the suspension on the eve of the next match. Belgium’s head coach mocked the decision: “I didn’t know that July 5th was April Fool’s Day at FIFA.” Mr. President, if a red card can disappear after a telephone call from Washington, what weight will any future decision carry when it runs against the interests of the powerful? Which African federation will ever again dare challenge a disqualification, a disciplinary sanction, or a refereeing decision? I also denounce the so-called “Peace Prize” that you created from nothing and awarded on December 5th to that same Head of State—without published criteria, without an independent jury, without consulting your own FIFA Council—while publicly promising him your support. A human rights organization referred the matter to your Ethics Committee, alleging a breach of FIFA’s duty of political neutrality. The Norwegian Football Federation supported the complaint. Fifty Members of the European Parliament demanded an investigation. Seven months later, your Ethics Committee has not uttered a single word. In the past, it acted much more swiftly in other cases. Everyone may draw their own conclusions. I denounce opacity as a method of governance: the Doha apartment, the private flights, the unanswered questions, and a World Cup transformed into a revenue-generating machine—dynamic ticket pricing pushing ticket
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