Nigeria Football Association (NFF) President Amaju Pinnick has confirmed he will not seek a third term when his current reign comes to an end.
The 51-year-old has been under pressure to quit the post after he failed to guide Nigeria’s Super Eagles to the 2022 World Cup finals set for Qatar.
Nigeria under interim coach Augustine Eguavoen missed the ticket on the away goals rule after failing to beat Ghana, in the play-offs, managing a 0-0 draw in the first leg meeting in Kumasi before drawing 1-1 in Abuja.
Pinnick, who took charge of NFF in 2014 and was re-elected for the second term in 2018, has cited his family as the main reason he will not contest in the coming elections despite being eligible to defend the post.
"First am I eligible to run? Yes, I am eligible to run based on our statutes. Do I want to run at this moment? It's a no-no because my family says so at the moment,” Pinnick told Arise News as quoted by allnigeriasoccer.com.
"My family is very key to me, they have seen that I've put in my all, I've done my best, they've seen that it's taking a toll on me, taking a toll on the family and they believe it's time that I should move on.
"It's a very regrettable decision.”
Meanwhile, Pinnick has guaranteed Nigeria will name a foreign coach in the next ten days.
“One thing I can guarantee you is we are getting a foreign coach, within the next seven to ten days we'll announce a foreign coach.”
After Nigeria parted ways with German coach Gernot Rohr the NFF settled for Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro, but the deal could not materialise owing to issues in his contractual terms.
When asked if Peseiro was among the coaches being considered for the role, Pinnick said: “It's not impossible but would he want to come? If he would want to come then it will be a major plus for us because it shows that he loves the country.
“I told them in our Executive Committee meeting, are we going to have a percentage of home-based players in any of the Super Eagles line-ups? Is it going to be part of the contract of the coach?
“They should look deeply into it because we also need to develop it.”
