We’ll support Adamu - Ex-WAFU boss

Ade Somefun, Abidjan - 24.04.2008

Dr. Adamu IMMEDIATE past president of the West African Football Union (WAFU), Mr. Jacques Anouma has assured his successor, Dr. Amos Adamu of the full support of the Ivorian Football Federation.

Speaking with Tribunesports in Abidjan, venue of the WAFU congress which ushered in a new leadership for the sub-regional soccer body, Anouma, who is the president of Cote-d’Ivoire football-ruling body, said Dr. Adamu’s choice to head WAFU was a right step in the right direction.

According to him, the programme outlined by Dr. Adamu for the body showed that of a great future for WAFU, adding that the Ivorian FA has no choice than to throw its full weight behind the Nigerian.

“With what I have seen, it is obvious that Dr. Adamu has good plans for WAFU and we in Ivory Coast FA will give him all the necessary support needed to move WAFU forward,” Anouma declared.

While describing the CAF/FIFA executive member as a credible and capable leader, Mr. Anouma said WAFU was a strong body in Africa, stressing that the region had produced great players for the continent and would produce more with its revitalisation.

On why WAFU was moribund during his own tenure, the Ivorian said it was due to the war that ravaged his country when he came on board, which he said did not allow the body to be financially viable.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Mr. Bolaji Ojo-Oba, has also hailed the emergence of Dr. Adamu as the new WAFU’s helmsman.

Chatting with Tribunesports on the development, Ojo-Oba said Dr. Adamu, who is the Director General, National Sports Commission (NSC), had all it takes to head the sub-regional body.

“Dr. Adamu is a man with great foresight as far as football administration is concerned and that is why he was overwhelmingly elected to lead WAFU,” Ojo-Oba told Tribunesports, adding that, “it points to a great time ahead for football in the sub-region.”