Shehu Gusau: I’m the validly elected President of AFN
Asks Federal High Court to declare election of Okowa, 11 others invalid, null and void
Former President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, Ibrahim Shehu Gusau has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to declare him the validly elected president of the federation when the case comes up on Monday September 26, 2022 in Abuja.
To this end, Gusau is asking the Court to declare as illegal the extraordinary and elective congress of the AFN held on the 13th and 14th of June, 2021 respectively in Abuja which brought in chief Tonobok Okowa and 12 other elected members of the federation’s executive board as invalid, null and void
Gusau, in suit number: FHC/ABJ/CS/270/2021 is also seeking a declaration that the elections that ushered in the administration of Tonobok Okowa on June 14, 2021 be declared invalid, null and void.
The embattled immediate past President of the AFN is therefore seeking an order setting aside the extraordinary congress held on June 13 in Abuja as well as any resolution/deliberations and decisions reached at the well attended congress which had the representatives of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and the Nigeria Olympic Committee.
The former member of the House of Representatives also wants an order of the court setting aside the elective congress held on the 14th of June in Abuja as well as removing Okowa and the rest of his elected board members as the executive board of the AFN.
Gusau’s plea to the Federal High Court is coming against his rejection by World Athletics, the world governing body for the sport who has endorsed the June 13 extraordinary congress and June 14 elective congress held in Abuja.
World Athletics had specifically told Gusau in a strongly worded letter it does not recognise the kangaroo congress of the federation purportedly held in December 2019 and the amendment of the 2017 constitution of the AFN carried out at the said congress.
The world governing body also told the former AFN president the June 14 elective congress must be held in accordance with the 2017 constitution which came into force in November 2017.
A defiant Gusau ignored World Athletics’ order and conducted a parallel election in Kebbi state on June 14. The election did not have represntatives of both the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and the Nigeria Olympic Committee in attendance.
