The legendary Nigerian football player, Segun Odegbami, has described Sepp Blatter as the most powerful president in the world ever.
The former Nigerian forward, who was speaking during a live television programme monitored in Lagos on Wednesday morning, revealed that Blatter, who resigned six days after being re-elected as FIFA’s president, had become untouchable during his stay at the top of the world football governing body.
A US investigation had revealed a $150m FIFA corruption scandal and Blatter, head of the organisation, had been pressurised to step down prior to the election last Friday, but he insisted that it was too late for him to step down.
Odegbami, also fondly called ‘the mathematical’ for his analytical skills, said: “during the period of his reign as FIFA president, he was even more powerful than the American president, whom may believe is the strongest in the world.
“That was to show you how powerful he had become as the head of the organisation. The administration of the game was the only thing being affected and not the game itself; that is the more reason the whole corruption had not been blown open this much.
“Even (Mitchel) Platini, who has always given full support to Blatter, was also against him re-contesting. You would notice too that Figo dropped from the race a few days before the election, to show how powerful Blatter was.
“And after winning the election, he suddenly decided to resign”.
Asked what could have gone wrong, Odegbami said the resignation of Blatter as FIFA president may not be unconnected to the fact that some powerful sponsors of FIFA may have met with him and put pressure on him to step aside so as to enable their continuous support of the organisation.
“Something went wrong, and the whole world is still trying to find out. Some big sponsors may have met with Blatter to resign since they still want to be relevant to the game.
“Isa Hayatou has also manipulated the constitution to enable participants who are 70 years and above to contest for the presidency just to suit himself. He will come out again to run for another term and is gradually making himself another Blatter,” he explained.
Amanju Pinnick, the president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), said that Blatter’s resignation was in the best interests of the sport, adding that Blatter had previously received the support of the whole of Africa because of the development which the continent had witnessed under him.
Blatter won the election to emerge as the FIFA president for a fifth straight term on Friday, May 29.
The former Nigerian forward, who was speaking during a live television programme monitored in Lagos on Wednesday morning, revealed that Blatter, who resigned six days after being re-elected as FIFA’s president, had become untouchable during his stay at the top of the world football governing body.
A US investigation had revealed a $150m FIFA corruption scandal and Blatter, head of the organisation, had been pressurised to step down prior to the election last Friday, but he insisted that it was too late for him to step down.
Odegbami, also fondly called ‘the mathematical’ for his analytical skills, said: “during the period of his reign as FIFA president, he was even more powerful than the American president, whom may believe is the strongest in the world.
“That was to show you how powerful he had become as the head of the organisation. The administration of the game was the only thing being affected and not the game itself; that is the more reason the whole corruption had not been blown open this much.
“Even (Mitchel) Platini, who has always given full support to Blatter, was also against him re-contesting. You would notice too that Figo dropped from the race a few days before the election, to show how powerful Blatter was.
“And after winning the election, he suddenly decided to resign”.
Asked what could have gone wrong, Odegbami said the resignation of Blatter as FIFA president may not be unconnected to the fact that some powerful sponsors of FIFA may have met with him and put pressure on him to step aside so as to enable their continuous support of the organisation.
“Something went wrong, and the whole world is still trying to find out. Some big sponsors may have met with Blatter to resign since they still want to be relevant to the game.
“Isa Hayatou has also manipulated the constitution to enable participants who are 70 years and above to contest for the presidency just to suit himself. He will come out again to run for another term and is gradually making himself another Blatter,” he explained.
Amanju Pinnick, the president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), said that Blatter’s resignation was in the best interests of the sport, adding that Blatter had previously received the support of the whole of Africa because of the development which the continent had witnessed under him.
Blatter won the election to emerge as the FIFA president for a fifth straight term on Friday, May 29.
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