With only one day remaining before the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Electoral Congress, the Nigel Hughes-led ‘Team Unity’ has suffered their first casualty as Vice Presidential hopeful Odinga Lumumba has resigned from the outfit.
This bombshell announcement comes on the heels of Guyana Defence Force (GDF) FC President Loring Benons resigning from the Team Integrity slate after the army wanted to maintain neutrality during the process.
According to an official statement from the former PPP/C Presidential Advisor “Today I’m here because it is my opinion that at the end of the day football must be the victor. For the past three weeks attempts have been made by members of the Integrity Group in particular Mr. Forde, Mr. Adams and Mr. Lovell to drag my name, character and contribution to football into the mud”.
The document noted “These misguided individuals have gone so far as to suggest that the honourable counsel Mr. Nigel Hughes and fellow respected counsel Mark Waldron were hired by me to secure a victory in the upcoming GFF elections, and then after elections they would have ride away in the sunset. Not only do I find this position ridiculous, it also shows the level of unscrupulous behaviour that is presented by members of Team Integrity”.
According to the correspondence “This group has decided that in order to win it must say degrading things about two young attorneys … In any other society they would have been brought before the courts or at the least, the ethics council of the governing body for the sport”.
The release added “The records will show that in the past seven years I have been able to turn around Alpha United from Guyana’s whipping boys to the present point where it is one of the top teams in the Caribbean. The records would also show that my benevolence has been felt by over 100 footballers and by extension their families. Alpha United club is the first sport team in Guyana outside of boxing that has guaranteed their players financial incentive for their hard labour”.
Lumumba further said “In addition, Alpha has uplifted the standard of Football in Guyana by importing players from Panama, Brazil, St. Vincent, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and recently we have signed a Nigerian player who is listed in the top 200 in his own country”.
He noted “I wish to point out to members of Team Integrity that my desire is not to seek power in GFF but to take local Football to a level that will set the course for better players so that Guyana as a country could become competitive and one day compete at the world cup”.
The statement further said “While enduring the personal attacks, I want to assure the Football federation and the public at large that Lumumba doesn’t have any interest in presidency and will never attempt to undermine Mr. Hughes for him to leave”.
It further stated “To concretize this position, I have submitted a letter to the Chairman of the NC requesting an adjustment of Team Unity’s slate which would reflect that I am no longer running for the position of First Vice President”.
“This letter would take effect prior to the election on Saturday November 14th, and will be the mandate of the NC or new General Council. I do this with a heavy heart but my interest is to put football first always for the good of the game” the document concluded.
Sources close to the federation say that the GFF is not yet in receipt of any resignation letter from Lumumba.
