Plot to block credible Northern Candidates from AFN Presidential Election scales first hurdle
The plot to block the North from fielding credible candidates for next month’s Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, Presidential election has scaled the first hurdle.
The plot, being orchestrated by a former President of the Federation, according to sources, was to deny the duo of Shehu Ibrahim Gusau and Tafida Gadzama the opportunity to contest in the election.
Part one of the plot, our correspondent gathered, was the decision to affirm article 17.2 that was smuggled into the disputed 2023 AFN Constitution (as amended) which, bizarrely, says ‘the maximum number of terms of office for any member of the Executive Board is three (3) terms, and that of the President, the maximum term is three (3) terms.’
It was further learnt that there is another plot being hatched to stop Shuaib Gara Gombe, Chairman of Gombe State Athletics Association from getting near the AFN board membership which will give him the chance to contest for the Presidency of the Federation.
It was gathered at the weekend that the North is angry with the neglect it has suffered from the AFN, especially in the hands of the outgoing board of the AFN headed by Tonobok Okowa.
‘We will not forget how they deceived us with a promise of a Cross Country event in Taraba and how it never materialized,’ said a distance runner from the north who preferred not to be named for fear of persecution.
The athlete pointed to the 2025 calendar of the AFN to confirm the Federation’s total neglect of the zone.
‘There is nothing directly from the AFN on distance running either in form a race or even a seminar. They know we are angry and that we will not vote for them, hence the plot to get rid of candidates from our zone who are popular and have indicated interest to contest,’ he further said.
The AFN, at its disputed Congress in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state capital last week, re-affirmed the banning of members who have served three terms on the board of the Federation from seeking a fourth term.
‘This is very strange to sports worldwide. What is tenured is the presidency or chairmanship of an association or a body,’ said Oludare Esan, a member of the outgoing board of the AFN.
Esan says he will not dismiss insinuations that the banning of members from seeking a fourth time is done to stop leading candidates from the North.
‘A lot of our distance runners, mostly from the North, are owed prize money by road race organisers in Nigeria, but the AFN has done nothing to help them get their money. When a few of us asked questions, we were dismissed as rabble rousers.
‘When we asked for transparency and professionalism in the running of the Federation, we were asked to shut up. We saw the result of the incompetence that has found a home in the AFN on full display at the Paris Olympics where Favour Ofili was deliberately not registered for the 100m event.
‘An independent investigative body set up by the former Sports Minister confirmed what we have been saying about the capacity and competence of those running track and field in Nigeria. Two principal officials of the Federation were indicted.
‘Even when the audit committee uncovered monumental fraud in the running of the Federation, especially how the N100m a year Premium Trust Bank sponsorship money was spent, indicted officials of the AFN were asked at a board meeting to ‘go and sin no more’.
That’s the kind of Federation we have had for almost four years now,’ said Esan, who also pointed to the query by the Athletics Integrity Unit, AIU, on the ages of four of our athletes.
‘The AIU is about concluding investigations on this, and you can expect a tsunami in the form of its verdict very soon,’ added Esan.
