MONROVIA, Montserrado – After five months of disputes over the presidency of the Liberia Football Association, the matter has appeared to come to an end, with the association’s former vice president for administration, Musa Shannon, pulling out of the presidential race just four days to the election.

Shannon officially withdrew from the race on Tuesday with an official communication sent to the football house. The former footballer’s withdrawal means the election on Saturday will only be contested by LISCR FC’s president, Mustapha Raji, who led the race during the April 22 elections that were held at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex in Paynesville.

According to a release from the Liberia Football Association, outgoing president Musa Hassan Bility has issued a statement transferring authority to Raji, who is set to become the new LFA boss.

In a communication to football stakeholders, Bility said he was informed about Shannon’s withdrawal and the transition will start immediately.

“With this information, I wish to inform you that the process of transition will start immediately,” Bility wrote to the stakeholders.

The LFA presidential elections took a major twist when an injunction was placed on the presidential race as a result of a challenge by George Solo, who was then a candidate. Solo had argued that Raji was ineligible to contest the election because he lacks a Bachelor of Science degree, a requirement for contesting for the presidency.

Prior to the injunction from the court, Raji led the presidential race with 16 votes to Shannon’s 13.

However, football’s world governing body, FIFA, intervened and requested that the case be taken from the court and that the LFA review the constitution. The constitution had both a high school diploma and a Bachelor of Science degree as the minimum educational requirement for the presidency.

In an extraordinary congress on Saturday, July 21, the final decision was made by stakeholders to require only a high school diploma for the presidency.

Following the congress, the LFA announced that there would be reelection for the presidency, instead of a runoff between the two top candidates.

Unlike the April election that saw three presidential candidates, there were only two registered for the September 8 redo of the election: the winner and the runner-up of the April election, Raji and Shannon, respectively.

With Shannon withdrawing from the race, Raji now becomes the lone candidate as he goes unopposed on Saturday. It will be the second consecutive LFA presidential race contested by one person. The outgoing president won his second term unopposed in 2014.

Featured photo by T. Kla Wesley Jr.