Since his election as president of the Cameroon Football Federation (Fécafoot), Samuel Eto'o refuses any limit to his power. To the point of creating dissension within his Executive Committee.
Samuel Eto'o is under fire. At the origin, the managerial policy implemented at the Cameroon Football Federation (Fécafoot) of which he has been the president for nearly seven months. "It is a management show, essentially based on the effects of announcement and the permanent staging, analyzes the Cameroonian political scientist, Dr. Moussa Njoya. We are also witnessing a form of personification of the Federation where everything has meaning and essence only because of the president.
Eto'o's legitimacy questioned
Behind the scenes, some people are even accusing the former Barça striker of having transformed the soccer body into a "political party". These detractors go so far as to challenge his legitimacy. On June 21, 2022, Samuel Eto'o was sentenced by the Spanish justice to 22 months in prison. Although he is free - prison sentences of less than two years are rarely carried out in Spain - this court decision could have repercussions on his mandate. Indeed, Article 36 of the Statutes of Fecafoot declares ineligible any candidate who "has been sentenced to a final sentence of deprivation of liberty with simple suspension or probation exceeding six (06) months".
The Executive Committee splits up
A session of the Executive Committee was held on July 20. But the meeting that was to rule on the issue of the vacancy in the presidency of the Federation has resulted in a motion of support. "The 16 members of the Executive Committee meeting today give their full confidence to President Samuel Eto'o," said the statement that sanctioned the meeting. What arouses scathing reactions from the opponents of the former "Pichichi". "The Executive Committee of Fecafoot is not the political bureau of a political party or a conclave of activists from whom it is expected motions of support or deference," said Guibaï Gatama, one of the 20 members of the Executive Committee.
The latter was the first to call for the convening of an Extraordinary General Assembly to note the vacancy in power. For him, "Fécafoot no longer has a legal president. If he was not expressly invited to the July 20 session because of his positions, another member of the Comex, also in favor of the establishment of an interim presidency, was banned from access to the headquarters of Fecafoot in Yaoundé. "Mr. Eto'o does not like to be challenegd. All those who tried to raise their heads were sidelined. It is for fear of reprisals that some members of the Comex support all the actions he takes, even when they are not based on respect for the texts," says an expert in business management.
It was a pleasure to meet with @KombiPr, Minister of Sports and Physical Education, to discuss the progress of Cameroonian football and the upcoming international tournaments. pic.twitter.com/3O8P4RZdZa
— Samuel Eto'o (@SamuelEtoo) May 20, 2022
"He gives himself every right
Since his election as president of Fécafoot on December 11, 2021, Samuel Eto'o is, according to his critics, a president without limit to his power. On the contrary, he would use it to relentlessly attack any form of checks and balances, subjecting his collaborators to unprecedented pressure. "It is a mandate marked by indifference or contempt for certain rules respected by his predecessors. The position of president has not changed the footballer who dictated the law in the locker room. He gives himself all the rights", commented a former employee of Fécafoot. At the time of submitting his letter of resignation on May 18, the former secretary general had already sounded the alarm about the management of Fecafoot, which would be reduced to the sole will of its president.
"An administration of progress in the Fecafoot can not be reduced to the 'dance of the president'," wrote Benjamin Didier Banlock. Leaving to imply that the decisions, choices and commitments of his former boss and friend are not motivated by "the texts, good managerial practices and governance, the objectives of federal projects and results. Illustrations: "the dismissal of the head of the marketing department for "suspicion of financial malpractice"; the unilateral termination of contracts of coach Antonio Conceiçao and the equipment manufacturer Le Coq Sportif before their term," says Dr. Moussa Njoya.
It was a pleasure to meet Indomitable Lioness & Inter star @AjaraNjoya in the Hall Of Fame last month and speak about her impressive track record. Thanks for having me @Inter 🙏🏿#Inter #ForzeInter pic.twitter.com/C4lPenGKga
— Samuel Eto'o (@SamuelEtoo) April 14, 2022
Unfulfilled promises
If he has kept his aura and his support within the national opinion, Samuel Eto'o has however lost some fans along the way. "But the stories are multiplying, correspondence supposedly confidential swarm on social networks and relations with the supervisory authority (the Ministry of Sports, editor's note) remain tense, "says a fan of the Indomitable Lions.
Eto'o also promised transparency, "but never communicated the amount of contracts signed with Guinness and MTN, the two sponsors of the championships (men's and women's)," he adds. He also promised to reconcile the soccer family, but he divided it by creating a form of factionalism between the members of the 2009 Assembly who had worked to cancel the previous electoral process.
Elected in December 2021, Samuel Eto'o still has three years left at the head of Cameroonian soccer. His detractors will have to be patient. Unless the former formidable striker loosens his grip a little.
