BY ANDREW EKEJIUBA
Shina Philips, the initiator and President of the prestigious Nigeria Pitch Awards has congratulated Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnich, the President of the Nigeria Football Federation on his election into the highest decision making organ of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).
In a statement released in Lagos and signed by the Organizers of the Nigeria Pitch Awards, Philips described the election of the NFF President as historic and momentous.
“Amaju Pinnick’s election into the FIFA Council is both historic and momentous. He is only the third Nigerian in the nation’s history to serve in the FIFA Council formerly known as FIFA Executive Committee,” Philips said.
Amaju’s victory at the well televised polls will see him serve as one of six African representatives at the highest level of world football administration. He is joined by Mamoutou Toure (Mali), Hany Abou Rida (Egypt), Marthurin De Chacus (Benin), Aisha Johansen (Sierra Leone) and Fouzi Lekjaa (Morocco).
Pinnick is a two-time winner of the highly competitive Sam Okwaraji Award for Commitment to Nigeria Football on the platform of the Nigeria Pitch Awards.
Philips expressed confidence in Pinnick’s ability to make invaluable contributions towards transforming world football just as he has done to Nigerian football.
“As organizers of Nigeria’s longest running football awards, we have worked with Pinnick and we have implicit confidence in his ability to make Nigeria proud at FIFA. We will continue to support him and the NFF as they work towards making Nigeria a more visible player in world football,” Philips further said.
Philips and the entire team of the Nigeria Pitch Awards thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and Mr. Sunday Dare, the Minister of Sports for their support and contributions towards making Pinnick’s election a success. He urged all Nigerians to support him as he flies the nation’s flag with pride at FIFA.
