Akinwunmi, Emeruwa, Uchegbulam walk tight rope as vice presidency is ‘zoned’ to South East

Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)

Nigeria Football Federation’s (NFF) First Vice President, Seyi Akinwumi, Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) Christian Emeruwa and Imo State FA Chairman, Amanze Uchegbulam, among other southern candidates in the September 30 NFF presidential election will find out soon that their aspiration to succeed incumbent president, Mr Amaju Melvin Pinnick, maybe an unrewarding venture, after all.

This is glaring from recent developments, including the list of cleared candidates for various elective positions by the Electoral Committee.

The Electoral Committee on Monday, September 12, released the list of cleared candidates to contest in the elections billed to hold in Benin.

From the list of presidential candidates, 10 were given the nod to begin campaigns and among these 10, six are northerners and four southerners.

The four Southerners are Akinwunmi – South-West; CAF’s Head of Safety and Security, Emeruwa and Uchegbulam, (both from South-East), as well as former Nigeria international goalkeeper, Peterside Idah who is from the South-South.

Stakeholders say these candidates have all been schemed out of the presidential race.

This is because the position of the first vice president has been ‘zoned’ to the South East, with only three candidates from the area cleared to contest for the position.

The three candidates include two current members of the NFF board, Felix Anyansi-Agwu (Abia State) and Senator Obinna Ogba (Ebonyi State), as well as Chinedu Okoye from Anambra State.

Stakeholders have argued that with the first vice president’s slot ‘zoned’ to South-East would be difficult for any of the four southerners to become the next NFF president.

Analysing emerging positions ahead of the polls,