President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Ibrahim Gusau, has commiserated with Cameroonian football fraternity and African football family, following the death of former President of Confederation of African Football, Issa Hayatou.

Mr Hayatou was a former 400m and 800m champion of Cameroon, who served as President of CAF between March 10, 1988 and March 26, 2017.

He died on Thursday after a protracted illness in the French capital, Paris, on the eve of his 78th birthday.

Director of Communications, NFF, Ademola Olajire, quoted Mr Gusau in a statement on Friday as saying that the NFF and the Nigeria football family were terribly saddened by the death of Hayatou.

“He was a great and much-loved leader of African football and he did his best to leave African football greater than he met it. Hayatou was a man of strong character and integrity. We love him but God loves him more. We pray that Almighty Allah will grant him eternal rest and also grant the Cameroonian and the African football family the fortitude to bear the loss,” he said.

Mr Hayatou, who served as Secretary of the Federation Cameroonaise de Football in the 1970s, was elected CAF President on the margin of the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco.

He took over office from interim boss, Abdelhalim Mohamed, who had stepped in the previous year, following the death of Ydnekatchew Tessema.

Tall, energetic and visionary, Mr Hayatou (who was born to the royal family in the northern Cameroonian town of Garoua) was also a member of the International Olympic Committee.

He also served as acting president of football’s world-ruling body FIFA for four months and 18 days (October 8, 2015 to February 26, 2016).

This was following the suspension of Sepp Blatter and prior to the election of Gianni Infantino.

After 29 years in office as CAF President, Mr Hayatou lost the bid for a fresh term in an election won by Ahmad Ahmad of Madagascar.

Mr Ahmad emerged at an elective congress in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on March 16, 2017.

(NAN)