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Amaju Melvin Pinnick was born on the 1st of December 1970 in Delta State Nigeria.
His sojourn into the top echelons of the football governing body both in Africa and the world is due to his sagacity with which he has gone through the murky political waters flowing in the administrative sphere of the game.
The 51-year-old has just seen out his eight-year tenure as the President of the Nigeria Football Federation, a role he was elected into in September 2014 and was re-elected in 2018.
However, what most people have found unclear is how Amaju Pinnick rose to become a big fish that is swimming in the biggest ocean in Africa and world football in less than a decade.
Are you reading this and you’re a part of those people? Your doubts will be cleared soon enough as you consume this piece.
Amaju Pinnick Biography
After his secondary school education, Amaju in 1994 bagged his BSc in Political science and Public administration from the University of Benin – little wonder his political will is always on point.
He became a businessman even before delving into sports administration and was doing extremely well in his business.
This gave him the edge to spend judiciously after starting his career as a sports Administrator.
Pinnick’s career as a sports Administrator dates back to 2010 when he was first the chairman of the Delta Sports Commission and was subsequently appointed chairman of the Delta State Football Association a year later.
NFF Election & Presidency
Already a known name in the Nigerian football barony, Amaju Pinnick contested for the office of the NFF president in 2014 when the tenure of Aminu Maigari expired and won convincingly ahead of six other candidates.
Pinnick led other contestants with 25 votes in the first round, as Taiwo Ogunjobi polled 9 votes, while Dominic Iorfa and Amanze Uchegbulam secured 6 and 4 votes respectively.
To emerge as the President of the football body, he won the second round of the election with a simple majority by polling 32 votes.
The closest candidate to Pinnick was Dominic Iorfa who came second with 8 votes while Taiwo Ogunjobi polled 4 votes.
But in 2016, a drama that almost landed Nigeria a ban from FIFA came to the fore after a Federal High Court in Plateau State invalidated the 2014 NFF Presidential election that brought Pinnick on board as NFF’s President.
His opponent at the polls in 2014, Chris Giwa, had petitioned the NFF with a court ruling pronouncing Giwa as the legitimate winner of the election.
The timely intervention of FIFA averted what would’ve been Nigeria’s darkest moments in football when the world governing body wrote to the NFF stating that the court was interfering with matters of the Nigeria Football Federation and that if the ruling was not overturned Nigeria would be banned.
The matter was eventually put to rest in July 2016 after then-President Goodluck Jonathan appealed to Chris Giwa to withdraw the case, announcing Amaju Pinnick as the President of the NFF.
Amaju Melvin Pinnick then became the first Nigerian to be re-elected as the NFF President, having convincingly won the election for another four-year term in office in the NFF Elective Congress held in Katsina.
Pinnick polled 34 votes to beat three other contestants to retain his seat.
Alhaji Aminu Magari got eight votes; Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi got two votes while Chinedu Okoye did not have any votes.
Amaju Pinnick’s progress to FIFA, CAF, and AFCON
Pinnick in January 2017, was appointed member of the organizing committee for FIFA competitions and he was also elected into the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Executive Committee two months later; during CAF’s general elections which brought an end to a 29-year reign of Issa Hayatou as CAF’s president.
Soon enough, Amaju Pinnick was also appointed the First Vice President of the Confederation of African Football in September 2018, replacing Kwesi Nyantakyi.
FIFA Council Membership
Things kept on getting bigger for Amaju Pinnick as he secured a seat in the FIFA Council, the highest decision-making organ in world football following a victory against Malawian FA president Walter Nyamilandu.
Amaju Pinnick House
Pinnick’s illustrious career as a businessman and football administrator has fetched his properties, which include a mansion in Park View Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos, where he recently held a meeting with three NFF Presidential candidates.
He has another bungalow in GRA, an event center in Warri, another bungalow in Asaba, an apartment in London, and a plot of land in Abuja.
Amaju Pinnick’s Wife and Children
His wife’s name is Julie Pinnick. The pair met at a wedding ceremony and later ran into one another at a club on the same day.
Julie, who hails from Ngwa, Abia State, has given Amaju four beautiful children, with the possibility of two or more kids in the immediate future.
She is the MD/CEO of J Cleaning Services. She’s also the MD of Brownhill Investments, which is majorly into show business.
Also, Julie is the co-convener of Warri Again Concerts.
Amaju Pinnick’s Net Worth
Amaju’s net worth, according to different sources, is between $1 and $5 million.
