Nigerian football administrator Samson Adamu has been confirmed as the substantive General Secretary of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), becoming the first Nigerian to occupy the position in the organisation’s 70-year history.

The confirmation was announced late last week, with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) congratulating Adamu on his appointment.

The NFF’s acting general secretary, Emmanuel Ikpeme, described the development as a significant moment for Nigerian football administration and expressed confidence in Adamu’s ability to excel in the role.

“This is, indeed, very good news. I am so happy for Samson Adamu on his confirmation, and I know he is going to make Nigeria and Africa proud,” Ikpeme said.

“The NFF is delighted with this appointment, and we will give him all the necessary support as a member association under CAF. We wish him tremendous success in the job,” Ikpeme added.

Adamu joined CAF, the continent’s football governing body headquartered in Cairo, Egypt, as Director of Competitions before becoming Director of Tournaments and Events.

He was appointed acting general secretary on March 29 following the resignation of his predecessor, Veron Mosengo-Omba, a Swiss-Congolese football administrator.

Adamu holds a FIFA Master’s degree in the management, law and humanities of sport. He began his career in football administration by establishing the now-defunct Copa Lagos beach soccer tournament in the early 2010s.

Galatasaray forward, Rafael Leão, has thanked Nigerian striker, Victor Osimhen, for allowing him to take a penalty during the club’s 4-0 victory over Konyaspor in the Turkish Super Lig at the weekend.

Leão scored his first goal for the Turkish champions after Osimhen handed him the opportunity to convert a second-half spot-kick, despite being the club’s regular penalty taker.

The gesture came a day after Osimhen and his partner welcomed their second daughter, Liora Audrey, on Thursday.

Osimhen had earlier opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a header, dedicating the goal to his newborn daughter through his celebration.

Speaking after the match on Galatasaray’s official YouTube channel, Leão revealed that he had encouraged the Nigerian striker to score twice in celebration of the birth of his child.

“Yesterday was the birth of his second child. So I told him, ‘You should score two goals today.’ He could have scored the second goal, but he gave me the ball,” the Portuguese international said.

Leão described Osimhen’s decision as a reflection of the strong team spirit within the Galatasaray dressing room.

“It’s about this kind of attitude. We have a great group, so I’m really happy to have this kind of teammates in the squad,” he added.

The former AC Milan winger also expressed appreciation for Osimhen’s generosity, admitting that the penalty meant a lot to him after waiting to open his goalscoring account for the club.

“I’m very grateful to him. He knows how much I struggled for that goal. I just want to give them back my quality and enjoy my game,” Leão said.

Osimhen’s decision allowed Leão to convert the penalty and make it 4-0, capping a memorable evening for the Portuguese forward.

The Nigerian striker’s contribution also made the occasion special, as he combined his goalscoring performance with a personal celebration following the arrival of his second daughter.

The victory further strengthened Galatasaray’s position in the Turkish Super Lig as the club continues its domestic campaign under manager Okan Buruk.

Nigerian CAF instructors are up in arms against the NFF technical director, Austin Eguavoen over what they claimed as “unprofessional manner” he has been conducting a series of CAF D courses across the country.

A majority of the 29 CAF instructors in Nigeria alleged that they have been sidelined from these courses and instead Eguavoen has been conducting the courses in Bayelsa, Edo, Delta, Ogun and Osun States with only Terry Eguaoje and one uncertified person.

“W h a t Eguavoen is doing is very unprofessional,” one of the CAF instructors fired.

“He has made the rest of us redundant even though we all are qualified to be part of these courses.

“Instead, he is going around the country with only Dr Terry (Eguaoje) and one Fatai Akanji, who is not qualified to deliver papers at such courses.

“Just how unprofessional can you be?”

“These courses could be done across the country at the same time with some of us also being part of them,” added another CAF instructor.

The tension between the instructors and Eguavoen has now reached a head that NIS DG Philip Shuaibu has waded into the crisis.

This comes at a time when Eguavoen is seeking to stay on as NFF technical director following the expiration of his contract.