ALGERIA JOINS GHANA OVER ALLEGED CAF CHEATING..

Algeria have joined Ghana in questioning the
integrity of the Confederation of African Football
(CAF) after Afcon 2017 hosting rights were given
to Gabon.
Algeria's Minister of Sports, Mohamed Tahmi
minced no words about his country's disgust at the
way the final procedure of the bidding process was
conducted in Cairo on Wednesday.
“CAF’s decision shocked us and we can’t accept it
till now. Our bid was the best among all, but the
CAF president gave it to Gabon. With all respect to
Gabon, but that was illogical,” Tahmi told state
media on Thursday.
This comes a day after a member of Ghana's bid
team, Randy Abbey, leveled equally damaging
allegations against African football's governing
body on Multi TV.
The biggest bone of contention for Algeria, as it is
with Ghana, is how Caf have been mute on how
many votes Gabon garnered to win the rights to
host the prestigious tournament.
“I dare if anyone can tell us about the number of
votes that Gabon had. I have the answer; no one
knows that. We will not stop here. We will ask CAF
how they ignored our offer, till now I can’t believe
it,” the administrator said.
The usual practice is that when a bidding member
is declared winner, all 14 members of Caf’s
Executive Committee are shown the voting patterns
which granted the successful candidate the
majority. Per all accounts so far, this has not
happened.
Also surprising is that Caf's official statements
through its sanctioned media did not offer any
breakdown.
The speculation as to how Gabon won has been loud
from the camps of both losing candidates. The
reaction of Tahmi is not unexpected because Abbey
had told Joy Sports that such a remark should be
expected.
Abbey had said on Wednesday: "We will like to
congratulate Gabon for being declared the winner.
But there was something and in the coming hours
or days you will hear, I'm sure, from especially the
Algerians."
He had also revealed that "everybody was brought
to the conference room and the Caf president just
took a paper that said Gabon had won."
Algeria's bid was very strong, according to several
officials who were in Cairo for the announcement.
The Maghrebian nation had long taken pride in the
fact that they had met all criteria set by Caf, and
also felt confident that because Ghana (2008) and
Gabon (2012) had recently hosted the event, they
would be favorites.
"Algeria has treated CAF with all respect in the
past years but now I think we will change that.
They will see a new face," Tahmi said.
It has also been heavily suggested that Caf boss
Issa Hayatou's rivalry with Algerian Football
Federation (FAF) chief Mohamed Raouraoua may
have played a role in the events of Wednesday.