Exclusive: Anas Gives His Verdict On The Punishment Handed Out To Salisu Yusuf

The Ghanaian journalist’s team exposed Salisu Yusuf’s corrupt act in 2018, and he has now expressed his opinion on the punishment handed out to the former Kano Pillars manager. 

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 59-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.

Salisu Yusuf was subsequently banned from all football-related activities for a year and fined $5,000 after the documentary aired on the BBC.

He has since returned to football following the completion of his ban and was in charge of Rangers 2019 Confederations Cup campaign.

However, Salisu should consider himself lucky as many felt he should have been suspended for a longer time.

Given the punishment that was handed out to other officials that were caught in Anas investigative web, the action taken against Salisu is lenient.

David Laryea, a former Ghanaian assistant referee, was banned for life by CAF after he was seen collecting a bribe to influence matches of Ghana’s Premier League.

Laryea was caught receiving a sum of $500 in an investigative documentary (Number 12) made by Anas back in 2018.

He was not the only official found guilty with three other Ghanaian referees also indicted. Although they escaped lifetime bans, they were handed a lengthy ban of ten years.

A total of 22 referees received long-term bans from CAF as a result of Anas Investigation. While CAF handed the referees’ cases, Salisu’s received his sentence from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), and that explains the length of his ban.

The man who led the investigation that exposed Salisu, Anas, has now expressed his feelings on the matter.

When asked if he was disappointed with the punishment handed out to Salisu, Anas revealed he is not in the position to say anything on that, and he would leave that to Nigerians to judge.

“Well, I think, I’ll leave it (Salisu’s ban) to Nigerians to judge,” Anas told Soccernet 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.

“We have different rules governing football in different countries.” As far as I know, there’s prosecution going on in Ghana of people who have offended the law.

“I don’t know what is happening in Nigeria, but I know there’s been a ban for one year, and also there’s a $5,000 fine,” Anas concluded.