CAF President Ahmad reportedly involved in shady dealings

Sports News from Saturday, February 9, 2019

Source: bbc.com

2019-02-09

The president of the café, Ahmad, faces a threat to his rule after being accused of violating the statutes of the governing body of African football.

Musa Bility, member of the Executive Committee, called for an urgent meeting of the Executive Committee on Friday.

He hopes that Ahmad's decisions to redistribute the Africa Cup of Nations 2021, 2023 and 2025 and to sign a trade agreement without the approval of the Executive Committee be evaluated.

"I very much hope that you (will) investigate these cases of flagrant violations of the President's statutory and financial procedures for proper action to be taken," Bility said.

"I count on you to take the measures that are required to save the growing decline of our system of statutory governance by exercising your powers in accordance with the Caf Statutes," wrote the Liberian in a letter to the members of the Executive Committee on February 8th.

The bylaws of Caf stipulate that only eight of the 23 members of the Executive Committee must be present for such a meeting to take place.

If the Executive Committee were to declare Ahmad guilty of violating Caf's statutes, which stipulates that moving any Nations Cup requires the approval of the Executive Committee, the former AF President of Madagascar could be suspended from his role and finally expelled.

The BBC has contacted Caf for comments from Ahmad, but has not heard from them yet.

Bility claims that the Malagasy violated Caf's statutes by choosing to reallocate the rights of three Nations Cups without the approval of the Executive Committee.

Shortly after Cameroon was deprived of organizing the 2019 edition in November due to the slowness of preparations, Ahmad offered the same country the opportunity to organize the final phase of 2021 , what Cote d'Ivoire had been prepared.

Caf's president revealed the offer on December 3, prompting Côte d'Ivoire to launch a lawsuit before the Court of Arbitration for Sport a few days later, before Caf himself issued a statement in which he stated that no decision had been made regarding the change of host 2021.

"We confirm that no decision has been taken by the executive committee," said the African organization on December 17.

Cameroon finally agreed to host the finals of 2021. Côte d'Ivoire then agreed to organize the 2023 edition (instead of 2021) and Guinea also chose to run two years later (2025 at place of 2021).

However, Ahmad's ability to reorganize the competitions did not impress Bility, who also challenged the recently announced partnership agreement between Caf and the 1XBET betting company.

"Once again, unlike Caf's bylaws, signing a sponsorship agreement of such importance with huge financial and regulatory involvement without the approval of the CAF Executive Committee is a serious violation." ", wrote Bility.

Last week, the former president of the Liberian federation resigned from his two positions in Caf while he launched a first attack on Ahmad's leadership.

Ironically, the Liberian played a key role in Ahmad's election in 2017, when the Malagasy dethroned Caf's longtime president, Issa Hayatou.

However, as clearly stated by Bility's recent statements, there are clear divisions between those who run African football.

Caf's senior vice president, Amaju Pinnick, acknowledged these differences earlier this month.

"When you start in an organization that's been in the hands of someone for 29 years, you're really going to see things like that, change is very difficult," Pinnick told BBC Sport.

"We are doing everything to reduce these cracks, we are doing everything."

Ahmad's term of office is expected to expire in 2021.