Malik favoured to succeed Okowa as AFN President
The initiator of the hugely successful Niger Delta Sports Festival, Honourable Itiako Ikpokpo, is reportedly in the race to succeed Tonobok Ojuru Okowa as President of Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN.
Sportsnow.com.ng gathered that Hon Ikpokpo has the backing of some track and field lovers in Nigeria, including former internationals, some of whom got to the finals of their events at the World Athletics Championships and the Olympics.
It was also gathered that top officials of the National Sports Commission, NSC, are also solidly behind the Delta state born man who is fondly and affectionately called Malik.
Why many athletics stakeholders are dissatisfied with the performance of Okowa who superintended over a crisis-ridden AFN board, others refer to the unanswered questions in the 2023 AFN Audit Committee report which indicted the brother to the immediate past Governor of Delta state, Ifeanyi Okowa.
‘How can a man who could not manage the crisis in his board and got the Athletics Integrity Unit, AIU, to query the ages of some of our athletes, and who is yet to explain how he got refunded N40m with the Premium Trust Bank sponsorship money when there was no agreement between him and the Federation he was loaning them money, expect to be rewarded with another term as AFN President,’ asks a track and field stakeholder who preferred not to be named because he is from Delta state.
Those backing Malik believes the way he managed the ‘talk of the nation’ Niger Delta Sports Festival and his ‘infectious’ passion for sports are huge credentials never seen in the leadership of the AFN since late 2000s.
Malik, a former Students Union President of the University of Port Harcourt, is a politician and entrepreneur. He was a two-time Chairman of Isoko South LGA, and Director-General of ALGON.
Through his company, Dunamis Icon Limited, and his role as ALGON Delta Chairman, he launched the Delta State Local Governments Sports Festival.
He conceptualized the Niger Delta Sports Festival which is a grassroots- driven initiative aimed at rekindling widespread interest in sports, discovering and nurturing talent, and empower- ing youth through structured athletic development.
