Ex-CAF President Issa Hayatou, Dies At 78

President of Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, has commiserated with the Cameroonian football fraternity and the African football family as a whole, following the death on Thursday of former President of Confederation of African Football, Alhaji Issa Hayatou.

A former 400m and 800m champion of Cameroon, who served as President of CAF between 10th March 1988 – 16th March 2017, Hayatou died after a protracted illness in the French capital, Paris on the eve of his 78th birthday.

“The NFF and the entire Nigeria football family are terribly saddened by the death of Alhaji Issa Hayatou. He was a great and much-loved leader of African football and did his best to leave African football greater than he met it.

“Alhaji Hayatou was a man of strong character and integrity. We love him but God loves him more. We pray that Almighty Allah will grant him eternal rest and also grant the Cameroonian, nay African football family the fortitude to bear the loss.”

Hayatou, who served as Secretary of the Federation Cameroonaise de Football (FECAFOOT) in the 1970s, was elected CAF President on the margin of the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco, to take office from interim boss, Dr Abdelhalim Mohamed, who had stepped in the previous year following the death of Dr. Ydnekatchew Tessema.

Tall, energetic and visionary, Hayatou (who was born to the royal family in the northern Cameroonian town of Garoua) was also a member of the International Olympic Committee, and served as Acting President of football’s world-ruling body FIFA for 4 months and 18 days (8th October 2015 – 26 February 2016) following the suspension of Sepp Blatter and prior to the election of Gianni Infantino.

After 29 years in office as CAF President, Hayatou lost the bid for a fresh term in an election won by Ahmad of Madagascar at an elective Congress in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa on 16th March 2017.