Dikko insists: ‘We will not tolerate non-performing Sports Federations’ Presidents who contribute little to nothing’
Mallam Shehu Dikko, Chairman of the National Sports Commission, NSC, has reiterated that the Commission will be allow people who should be managing hotels and farming to move near the nation’s Sports Federations as elections into the various Federations are scheduled to hold this year, starting with that of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, next month.
Speaking at a media conference at the ongoing 22nd National Sports Festival tagged Gateway Games 2024, Dikko vowed that only credible individuals committed to sports development would be allowed to lead sports federations.
‘We will not tolerate non-performing presidents who contribute little to nothing,’ he stated.
The NSC may be referring to the AFN where the Federation is yet to hold even an ordinary seminar for the athletes this year and its President, Tonobok Ojuru Okowa, the younger brother to the immediate past Governor of Delta state, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, is seeking a return.
The AFN has been enmeshed in controversy since the Okowa-led board was sworn in on June 15, 2021 and an audit committee, set up by the resolution of the board at its meeting in September 2023 opened a can of worms in the administration of the Federation.
The Audit Committee queried why Okowa should approve for himself a refund of N40m he purportedly borrowed the Federation without any document to support the loan agreement.
To make it worse, the money was paid from the N70m that accrued to the AFN from the first year of the Premium Trust bank sponsorship of the Federation’s activities.
The Audit Committee also uncovered that Okowa approved the borrowing of almost N17m from the same sponsorship money to prosecute Nigeria’s participation at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary that same year.
Under Okowa, the Athletics Integrity Unit also queried the AFN to explain why several of its junior athletes would have several dates of birth.
