AFN extends date for pick up and return of nomination forms to May 12 for Board Elections

The Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, has extended the date for the pick-up and submission of nomination forms by aspirants/candidates wishing to contest in the elections to the Executive Board of the Federation.

The Federation had earlier fixed between May 5 and 9 for the pick-up and submission of the forms without releasing the guidelines for the elections.

The AFN has also usurped the job of the Electoral Committee charged by the AFN Constitution to oversee the entire process of the election.

In the revised timeline, aspirants/candidates from the zones and all the other constituencies are to pick the forms either from the AFN office in Abuja, at the headquarters of each of the zones or download it online but ‘all completed nomination forms to be submitted at the AFN Secretariat in Abuja.’

Aspirants/candidates are not expected to pay any money for the forms (for now) but must return the forms by taking an ‘oath of undertaking’ in accordance with the Oaths Act of 1990.

Bizarrely, the aspirants/candidates will also take an oath ‘that I have read and understood the guidelines for elections into the boards of National Sports Federation 2025 and shall abide by the provision of the documents.’

Interestingly, the Electoral Committee is yet to come up with the Guidelines for the elections.

Aspirants/Candidates are also expected to submit alongside the forms photocopies of their birth certificate/affidavit of age declaration and tax clearance/receipt for three years amongst other documents.

The completed nomination forms must also be ‘endorsed by two persons (2) persons not below Grade Level 14 in the Public Service (Federal/State) or Traditional Ruler or Judge’.

Aspirants/Candidates must also indicate which clubs or professional/international sports bodies and state sports associations they belong to as well as list the competitions they have sponsored at Local Government, State and/or national levels.

Sportsnow.com.ng can however report that the AFN does not have the constitutional right to either issue the timeline or the guidelines for the election as that power has been vested in the Electoral Committee pursuant to article 11.1 sub-section 1 and 2 of the 2023 AFN Constitution (as amended).

Also, most all the conditions set in the nomination forms are contrary to the eligibility rules set out in the 2023 AFN Constitution (as amended).