SW FECAFOOT presidency:

Barrister Agbor Balla poised to ‘crush’ Mbella Moki
 

From Mua Patrick Mughe in Buea

Agbor Nkongho Felix

Buea based legal luminary and rights defender, Barrister Agbor  Nkongho Felix fondly called Barrister Agbor Balla has been highly tipped as the next South West FECAFOOT regional president to succeed Senator Mbella Moki Charles in the upcoming elections billed for November 7, 2014.

Other accounts have it that apparently to avoid a disgraceful defeat in the hands of Barrister Agbor Balla, Senator Mbella Moki who has been at the helm of the FECAFOOT top job in the region for the past 10 years, is now considering abandoning the  South West FECAFOOT presidency race to ‘seek refuge’ in the national bureau of the federation. 

The Guardian Post has it on good authority that for now, only three candidates to include Nouck Protus (president of Little Foot Academy) , Eteki Charles Dikongue of  EMSA Tiko and Barrister Agbor Balla (sitting Executive president of  Buea United) may take part in the expected hotly contested elections into the South West FECAFOOT presidency.

 While CRTV journalist, Nouck Protus Bilap seems to be a heavy weight in the race, Agbor Balla for his part is being considered by South West football lovers as not only the favourite but the right person there could be to occupy the hot seat of the region’s FECAFOOT boss.  He is being credited with having a wealth of management experience, including an over 10-year spell as rights officer at the United Nations. Perhaps, the legal expert and solicitor is most famous for his ecstatic key role at the helm of Buea United FC.

As if to show proof of his immeasurable love for the game of football in the region, Barrister Agbor Balla on October 13, convened a meeting at his Buea Federal Quarters residence that brought together regional club presidents. The focus of the meeting , he said, was to chat the way forward for the regional league that had suffered a four -month break due to lack of  available funds.

 During the meeting, he made financial donations estimated at over CFA 500.000 to the over 15 club representatives who came from Meme, Fako and Manyu divisions.

Balla said at the meeting that he had invited the club presidents to give them his own small financial support that could assist them in running their teams to the end of the season.  He opined such a support could greatly help the clubs given the difficulty most of them underwent for the past months when the league was suspended.

Reminded that such a move could be interpreted as a campaign gimmick especially as elections are just few weeks away, the Buea United FC executive president unequivocally dismissed such claims. Hear him:  “ Well, in my welcome statement thanking the club presidents, I did made it clear that it wasn’t a campaign move. I know when campaigns are around the corner, everybody interprets every action to be somewhat link to campaign. I had the representatives of two of my opponents in the meeting-Nouck of Little Foot FC and Mr. Eteki .If I were campaigning, I will not be giving financial support to my opponents because I will be arming them financially to face me,” he argued.

Asked to react to a recent decision by the FECAFOOT Normalization Committee last week disqualifying all South West six divisional leagues from participating in the upcoming elections, Barrister Agbor Balla retorted: “It is embarrassing, an aberration, shameful and humiliating that this region that gave us the likes of Ndip Akem Victor, Tataw Stephen and today Enoh Eyong, Njie Clinto just to name just a few cannot boost of third division leagues.” There is a fundamental problem, he added. “They (FECAFOOT SW) created ghost teams because they wanted to perpetrate their stay in office,” he said.

While apportioning blame on the outgoing FECAFOOT president, Senator Mbella Moki and his bureau for the disqualification decision, the legal icon called on Senator Mbella Moki to honourably step down; sustaining that he had failed as president. Hear him: “It’s glaring that he has failed. He should step down.  He does not have time for the game, he is too committed. Let him concentrate with his senatorial job and allow football to those who love the game,” a seemingly-frustrated Balla submitted.

Meanwhile, Senator Mbella Moki in a separate reaction to the recent decision by the FECAFOOT Normalization Committee with this reporter last weekend in Bamenda said the various divisional clubs were responsible for the disqualification. He justified that club officials of the various divisional leagues had failed to submit documents attesting their participation in the league despite incessant reminders from the FECAFOOT office.