Anas Aremeyaw Exclusive: Salisu Yusuf Got Caught in The Corruption of African Football

The Ghanaian investigative journalist’s sting operation earned the former Kano Pillars manager a year’s ban and a $5,000 fine  

In 2018, renowned undercover journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, led the team that exposed former Nigerian assistant coach Salisu Yusuf in a sting operation at the WAFU Cup in Ghana.

The 58-year-old trainer was filmed collecting $1000 to include two players in the Nigeria squad by Anas’ Tiger Eye Investigation team who posed as footballers’ agents.

The documentary shown on the BBC led to the suspension of the coach for one year by the Nigeria Football Federation and a $5000 fine.

The Ghanaian journalist came in for criticism for the way he exposed Yusuf and the other officials, including referees, coaches, and administrators.

But in an exclusive interview with Soccernet.ng, Anas said Yusuf was not a particular target. He just happened to get caught up in the line of his investigation to expose some of the filth in African football.

“The investigation we did was an African investigation. It dealt with many high profile personalities, and in fact, I did not even know who Salisu Yusuf was,” Anas told Soccernet.ng at the two-day Tackling Corruption And Underdevelopment Of Sports In Nigeria: Investigative Reporting For The Common Good And Sport Development organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) in Abuja.

“For us, Salisu happened to be just one of the people involved. There were people [from] Kenya, Ivory Coast, people [from] Togo, Benin.

“Different referees, different coaches, different people working at the highest level of FIFA. Different people working with the Confederation of African Football.

“So it was not [that we] looked for anybody called Salisu, we were working, and Salisu happened to come in there. I have no personal vendetta against Salisu. We did our genuine work,” Anas concluded.

Many of the referees and administrators indicted by the investigation were punished by their associations.

Yusuf has since served his ban and was controversially reinstated into football management by the NFF, who asked him to manage Enugu Rangers’ CAF Confederations Cup campaign in 2019.