Only Chairman or Secretary can vote in AFN Elections

Sportsnow.com.ng can report that the Constitution of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, recognizes only the Chairman and Secretary of each State Athletics Association as delegates at all its congress meetings, including next month’s elective congress both at zonal and national levels.

In 2021, over 40 votes were counted to bring in Tonobok Okowa as President of AFN and this was a clear violation of article 6.3, subsection 1 (6.3.1) of the 2017 Constitution (as amended) which recognizes only the Chairman and Secretary of each state association as delegates, which means only 37 votes were expected at the elective congress held that year.

If challeneged in court, the election would have been declared a nullity.

‘Each member state association will be entitled to send no more than two (2) delegates. The 1st delegate must be the chairman of the state association and 2nd delegate should be the secretary. Only one of them will be allowed to vote,’ the Constituted stated.

In the disputed 2023 Constitution of the AFN (as amended), article 10.3 subsection 1 (19.3.1), was a repeat of article 6.3, subsection 1 (6.3.1) of the 2017 Constitution.

This provision invalidated the AFN Congress held earlier this month as people not recognized as delegates were admitted as delegates to form a quorum, another constitutional requirement required to validate the Congress.

Oyo state, Enugu state, Ogun state and a few others sent in people who were neither their Chairmen nor Secretaries.

The AFN refused to make available either a Communique issued at the end of the gathering of friends in Bayelsa or send Minutes of the meeting to state associations and board members as required by article 10.5 subsection 1 (10.5.1) of the 2023 Constitution (as amended).

‘The minutes of the Congress shall be sent to the State Associations and to the AFN Board Members by the AFN Secretariat, within a reasonable time frame following the Congress,’ read the article.

If next month’s elective Congress holds despite the violations of so many articles of the AFN Constitution, only the chairmen or the secretaries can vote at the zonal elections scheduled for the middle of May and the national elective congress scheduled to hold at the end of May.

Sportsnow.com.ng can also report that majority of the State Athletics Associations do not have a copy (both in hard and soft copy) of the AFN Constitution which called to question the purported amendment of the Constitution at the disputed Congress in Bayelsa.

There are still question marks of the validity of the two AFN Congresses held in 2023 (January and May).