Pamodzi Sports Marketing (PSM) chief, Mike Itemuagbor has backed the FIFA Presidential bid of former Abia State governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, describing it as a Nigeria project worthy to be embraced by everyone.
Speaking with examples about the lopsided trends in sports administration globally and Nigeria’s indifference towards seeking such offices when the opportunities present itself, Itemuagbor said that: “Nigeria is the only country in Africa that participates in all FIFA events in Africa despite the huge cost of these competitions, yet lacks presence in the global sports bodies.
“If a Jordanian Ali fully backed by the people and government of Jordan despite their non- participation or presence among the countries of football in the world why not people of Nigeria back Kalu”
“Nigeria is the main issue and Kalu is behind at the forefront of football in Nigeria because he has the requisite management experience having governed a state for eight years in Nigeria besides being a publisher, also a football enthusiast and an administrator, who has committed his personal resources in the past.
“With the new recognition of Nigeria by the global community, we imploy the Africa continent to come together and emulate Europe and Asia with their block votes.
“Today we have executive committee members from Saudi Arabia in IAAF despite no record of Athletics, because Asia went to the election with their block votes as against a divided Africa.
“Should Kalu decides to contest for the FIFA presidency, let us all as Nigerians support with the same zeal we use to support the national teams of Nigeria.
“We all have to see the FIFA election as a 90 minutes game to put Nigeria at the top as always. Let’s throw our hats for Kalu.”
“Look at what happened at the last IAAF elections in Beijing and how Asia came together to ensure two of their own, Ahmadi AL Kamali from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Nawaf Bin Mohammed Al Saud from Saudi Arabia got elected into the IAAF Council albeit they are not strong nations as far as the sport of track and field is concerned.
“Nigeria is a power house in continental and global football and we have results on the pitch to show for this.
“It is high time we took advantage of this and the fact that the whole world now see us in a positive light to assert our position as a country to reckon with,” he said and wondered how Jordan’s Prince Ali is better qualified for the position than Kalu.
“In terms of whatever reasons or parameters you want to use or think about, Kalu presents better credentials than the Jordanian Prince.
“This should be an eye opener to Nigerians and Africans that we should not under value ourselves, he further said reiterating that Kalu possesses the right credentials to lead FIFA.
“We need to make our impact felt in these international bodies and I feel strongly that Kalu as a Nigerian, if given the chance with his wealth of management experience as enumerated above can turn things around for the good of the game.”