Amaju Pinnick has allegedly contracted a high profile clergy from the South-West to beg Sports Minister, Sunday Dare not to press ahead for him and several of his top officials to go before the court to defend themselves against corruption charges.
As a result of the mess the football boss has found himself, he has adopted a sort of low profile in his final days as the helmsman of the nation’s football apex body.
Pinnick along with NFF Vice Presidents Seyi Akinwunmi and Shehu Dikko as well as Executive Committee Members Ibrahim Gusau, Ahmed Yusuf ‘Fresh’ and General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi have been under investigation by ICPC for several years.
The NFF President was shocked to his bone marrow this past week when he was invited by anti-corruption agency ICPC and it has yet to be recorded that he has honoured this invitation.
He reportedly jetted travelled to the United States of America from where he tried to set up a Zoom conference with the Sports Minister for a top-profile Baptist pastor to plead on his behalf.
An official said, “Have you seen or even heard Pinnick since all these major happenings around Nigeria Football, from the scrapping of the LMC to the court injunction against the elections in Benin City?
“It’s because he does not want to be seen to confront the Federal Government. He has told those close to him he does not wish to go to prison for corruption.”
It has been alleged that in his eight years as NFF President more than N30bn was stolen at the football federation.
The stolen funds will include the prize monies for the 2014 and 2018 World Cups.
An indictment by a court for corruption will see Pinnick promptly lose his seats at both the FIFA Council and the CAF Executive Committee.