‘Bomb shell from hell’, by Patrick Omorodion

2026-03-21 - 23:34

There is a song ‘between the devil and the deep blue see’ done in the early 1930s. It was commonly recorded by artists such as Cab Calloway and Frank Sinatra. The lyrics have a chorus that goes thus: I don’t want you but I hate to lose you, you have put me in between the Devil and the deep blue sea. That is exactly the position of the CAF headed by South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe. Before close to midnight of March 17 when CAF issued a statement which Nigeria’s football legend, Chief Segun Odegbami (MON) described as ‘bomb shell from hell’, Motsepe has been praised by stakeholders for raising the stakes in African football with the kind of money he has been able to raise through sponsorships and television rights. Every gain he kind of made for CAF and himself would now be eroded if the outrage that has greeted the ridiculous decision to strip Senegal of the 2025 AFCON title is not reversed.. We all know what happened during the AFCON final on January 18, 2026. The referee awarded a penalty against Senegal for an infringement against Morocco in the box. The Senegalese team protested against it and Coach Pape Thiaw asked them to walk out of the pitch. ‎Didn’t he realize it was a violation of one of the regulations of CAF guiding its matches? Or he just decided to flout it because of emotions? According to Article 82, it is an offence for withdrawing, refusing to play, or leaving the ground before the end of the match without the referee’s permission. If Article 82 is violated, then the penalty comes in Article 84 which states that such a team is eliminated from the competition and it loses the match 3-0, unless the opponent already had a higher score. That was what the referee needed to do on January 18, 2026 but failed to do. So it was either he was ignorant of the law which makes him incompetent or he had instructions not to end the game to save the face of CAF. The embarrassment CAF thought it was saving itself and the rest of Africa from that day has doubled by deciding to strip Senegal of the title in an unprecedented manner in football anywhere in the world after a Cup final. From my little understanding of law, when two people take a matter to court and then decide they want to settle out of court, the presiding judge has no right to continue with the case in order to set one free and declare the other guilty. Once the referee decided not to wield his powers as directed by Articles 82 and 84, allowed Senegal to re-enter the pitch to continue play, and Morocco didn’t protest it and cite the relevant parts of the CAF regulations guiding the competition, then the provisions of Articles 82 and 84 hold no water any longer. That is exactly the positions of two legends of the game and respected voices in African football for that matter. First to voice his opinion to counter a misleading social media post attributed to him was George Weah, former Liberian president and Africa’s only Ballon d’Or winner. He wrote: In football, the Laws of the Game are clear: the referee on the pitch is the final authority on decisions made during the match. Once play is allowed to continue and the match is completed, the result obtained on the field must stand. “The referee has full authority to enforce the Laws of the Game in connection with the match to which he has been appointed, and his decisions on facts connected with play are final.” He continued “In the present case of the final AFCON match between Senegal and Morocco, the referee allowed the match to continue after the walk-off by Senegal, and the game was completed, including extra time, with a result obtained on the field of play. Additionally, post match, the referee report noted a stoppage during the match, not a forfeiture and recommended appropriate sanctions for the infractions during the match. For this reason, the subsequent decision by CAF committee, taken after the match had already been concluded, should not override the authority exercised by the referee during the game in keeping with the Laws of the Game – Law 5”. The second voice is that of Chief Odegbami, a man of many parts. He wrote on the matter yesterday in Saturday Vanguard and condemned the decision in its entirety. According to him, “that the referee restarted the match after 17 minutes automatically nullified the rule of forfeiture. The match restarted and (was )concluded. Morocco lost the penalty kick. Senegal scored an additional time goal. The match ended. The CAF President as well as the FIFA President presented the winner with medals and the trophy in recognition of the decisions voluntarily taken by the referee that are final and irreversible! Under no circumstances can there be justification for a revisit of the incident again and revision of the decision by the referee’. He then ended his piece thus: For now, I think CAF should reverse itself and return the victory to Senegal; Period!” Weah and Odegbami have spoken the truth. That is the position of most stakeholders. CAF must not, because it loves Morocco so dearly for always coming to its aid to host its competitions, hand them the AFCON title they lost on the pitch through the boardroom. If they allow this decision to stand, it will be the death knell on their flagship competition. Cikena.