Benedict Peters And Ahmad Ahmad: Two Leaders With One Vision For African Football

The partnership between Aiteo and CAF is sure to deepen football on the African continent. When Ahmad Ahmad became the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in May, he did something strange. He refused to accept a salary.

According to a sports analyst, Bonny Kant who lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, another African from Nigeria, 5,205km away from Ahmad’s home country, Madagascar, is making his own sacrifice. His name is Benedict Peters, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Aiteo Group. Peters is bankrolling football projects in Nigeria and at the continental level. Ahmad and Peters have a passion for football, and they believe that it is a sure bet to getting millions of young Africans engaged and liberated from some of the dangerous ills of the society.


Ahmad has not concealed his desire to reinvest CAF’s resources into the development of football across the continent. He stressed that “CAF is not here to make money to enrich itself.”


Convergence of visions


With the sealing of a sponsorship deal between Peter’s Aiteo Group and Ahmad’s CAF, there was some sort of convergence of goals between the two men. Ahmad has found someone with a shared vision in the Energy company’s founder, Benedict Peters. These two men, head two different organizations, from two different African countries, and yet, have a joint vision to take African football to the next level.


Peters is regarded as the 17th richest man in Africa by Ventures Africa. For the past two years, the Aiteo Group has been investing heavily in football in Nigeria. A N2.5billion (About $7million) deal with the country’s football authorities eased the payment of salaries for the National team coach and other football officials. Aiteo also gave special bonuses to players of the National team, the Super Eagles, during their World Cup qualifiers.


The company also took over the sponsorship of the local federation cup, the oldest football tournament in the country. In 2017 Ahmad emerged president by riding on the pedestal of change and promising administrative reform, financial transparency and a potential reorganisation of CAF competitions. It is therefore, not a coincidence that under his administration, the CAF Awards has a new sponsor.


Like Ahmad, Peters’ ascension to power, money and fame was not a straight path. He has his origin in Asaba, capital of the oil-rich Delta state in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. After a brief career in coaching, he ventured into politics and later became one of the youngest ministers in his country when he was appointed Sports Minister at age 34. In 2003, he emerged the head of Madagascar’s Football Association(FA) and has remained so. He was later became the Vice president of the Malagasy Senate in 2015.


In January 2018, the CAF awards for African football will be held in Accra, Ghana. It will be the first CAF awards under the leadership of Ahmad, and the first to be sponsored by Peters’ Aiteo. They are two men from separate places in Africa but with similar visions for Africa. The cooperation between these two is expected to build the bridge that will unite Africa through football.