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| Abdouraman Hamadou Babba |
- Abdouraman Hamadou Babba
The president of EtoileFilante of Garoua
recently scored a major victory in his desperate fight to reform Cameroon
football when the National Olympics Committee annulled the statutes of the
Cameroon Football Federation (Fecafoot), in accordance with his petition which
he deposited at the said Committee in August this year. He is now determined to
have the entire electoral process, which saw the election of Tombi à Roko as
president of Fecafoot, cancelled. Abdouraman made this and other pertinent
disclosures relating to Cameroon football clear in an interview he granted the
press recently.
How
did you receive the decision of the Chamber of Arbitration of the National
Olympics Committee annulling the statutes of Fecafoot?
I
received the decision with a lot of relief. All the actors of our football knew
that those statutes violated article 23 of the law which has to do with the
federal electoral college. The fact that the highest decision-making body of
our country in terms of sports has said it comforts us; it shows that the
Normalisation Committee did not do its job in an impartial manner.
The president of the National Olympics
Committee, HamadKalkabaMalboum, said this decision of the Chamber of
Arbitration did not annul the election which saw the victory of Tombi à Roko.
How do you comment on that?
He is right. Our petition deposited on 25
August 2015 aimed particularly at the cancellation of the statutes drawn up by
the Normalisation Committee and adopted on 5 September 2015, insofar as the
electoral process had not yet begun on that date. The very next day after the cancellation was
pronounced on 1 October 2015 and in conformity with article 33 of the code of
the Chamber of Arbitration, which states that the decision was effective as
from the time of its pronouncement, I deposited a new petition aimed this time
at the cancellation of the entire electoral process carried out on the basis of
those statutes judged illegal and which had been annulled.
If
the Chamber of Arbitration does not annul this election as you wish, what
should we expect in the days ahead?
I
would immediately lodge an appeal at the arbitration tribunal in Lausanne,
Switzerland. To me, the national chamber of arbitration is only a stopover on
the road to the Swiss arbitration tribunal.
Some
people are of the opinion that seizing the Swiss arbitration tribunal would not
yield fruit, given that EssombaEyenga, the main maoeuvrer at this international
court, is no longer on your side. Is this your feeling?
If you really knew what the Swiss
arbitration tribunal represented in the international sporting environment, you
would not give any credit to such a declaration.
Why
did you refuse to adhere to the “consensus” that was negotiated by the Prime
Minister, whereas many of your former partisans have accepted to move on?
I
have the strong conviction that the consensus did not take into account the
vital interests of our football. It simply took into account individual
preoccupations. The engagement I’m taking for our football is sincere and it
aims essentially to deeply restructure football in the country. It is an ideal
that is grossly placed above my personal interests.
