No adieu to Addo
A top African football official based in Cairo and embroiled in controversy tells Eric Asomugha what his current status really is
Reacting to several media reports concerning his position as the incumbent first vice-president of the African Football Federation (CAF), and the president of the Somalia Football Association, Farah Addo has said he will remain in office serving both bodies until the end of his mandate.
Addo dismissed news of his resignation from the two bodies as baseless rumour. However, last month in Nairobi, Kenya, the CAF second in command announced his departure from the Council of East and Central Africa Football Association (CECAFA).
"I voluntarily decided to retire," Addo said. "I have been in football since 1969 and I have been in CECAFA since 1980. Nobody forced me to retire. I had over 80 per cent of the member countries' support. Nobody should succeed in ousting me out of office according to the CECAFA statute.
"I'm a man who is direct. You tell me this, I find out whether it's the truth and follow, but if not, I won't," Addo added.
In a statement to CAF, Addo said: "After the extraordinary CECAFA Congress, in which I was given full confidence by the majority, I decided of my own free will to retire from my position as president as of 15 May this year. This decision follows my intentions of pursuing political activities in my country.
"With regard to my position in CAF and Somalia sports (the Somalia Olympic Committee and Football Federation), I will continue to serve them until the end of my mandate since I have invested three-quarters of my life in them. Any speculation on these two positions indicating my resignation is false and not credible," said Addo.
But Addo has been in hot water with FIFA, the world's governing body in football. Early last year, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee suspended him from all FIFA activities for two years after he publicly claimed that irregular financial practices were used to help Joseph Blatter's election as FIFA president in 1998. Addo also made accusations against FIFA executive committee member, Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar.
Following the suspension, FIFA released a statement which read: "The court injunction prohibiting the president of the Somali Football Federation, Farah Addo, from continuing to make defamatory statements about FIFA President Joseph Blatter has been upheld in full by the District Court of Meilen (Switzerland)."
The statement also noted that FIFA had suspended payments of the Financial Assistance Programme (FAP) to the Somali Federation until further notice, claiming that during a 1999--2001 audit, the federation was unable to provide documentation to substantiate the use of a large part of the funds it had received.
Some quarters are now asking whether Addo is being forced to pay the price of trying to expose alleged questionable activities of top football administrators.
