Acting president of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Honourable Olamide George says the purported congress of the federation reportedly held in Awka, Anambra State capital is illegal and decisions taken therein including the wishful autonomy remain null and void.
“t has come to our notice that the suspended president of our federation, Shehu Ibrahim Gusau gathered some impostors in Awka in the name of a congress which is in clear violation of the federation’s constitution Article 6.1.4 which states unambiguously thus: ‘The convening to the congress shall be sent to each member association by the AFN Head Office at least
sixty (60) days prior to the date of the congress, ‘said George in a statement.
”The notice for the congress was sent to state associations on November 5, 2019 which makes it 29 days to the December 4 date mentioned in the letter and this is a clear violation of our constitution which incidentally the suspended president helped midwived in 2017.
“We all swore to abide by the rules of the federation and international best practice but the suspended president feels he is bigger than the same rules of engagement we all swore to uphold,” George further stated in the statement and thanked genuine state association chairmen for staying away from the illegal congress.
“We have seen pictures from the illegal congress and we have been reassured by the absence of majority of the state associations chairmen who have been wondering why Mr Gusau could be violating the constitution of the federation so flagrantly. This is all the more shocking when it is predicated against the fact that he was a former Nigeria lawmaker,” he further stated, revealing that the article 6.1.7 mentioned in their illegal resolutions further gave Mr Gusau and his advisers away.
“Article 6.1.7 states thus: An extra-ordinary congress can be organised for the amendments of the constitution or the consideration of any urgent matter. To start with, the congress illegally convened on November 5 was the annual general congress but Mr Gusau and his advisers have chosen to change the goal post in the middle of the game.
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“Even in Mr Gusau’s imagination, the article he quoted did not state the date when it can be convened which means article 6.1.4 which did not specify the type of congress applies in this case as well. It states the convening to the congress and we advice Mr Gusau and his advisers to go back and read the constitution again.”
The AFN acting president advised a former president of federation, Evangelist Solomon Ogba not to be deceived by the decision of the illegal congress as he is a nominee of the federal government and he can be recalled at any time by those who put in on the board.
“Evangelist Ogba will soon be invited to come and explain how and why the $150,000 IAAF/CAA grant for the hosting of the 21st African Championships in Asaba was not paid into the federation’s account and I believe he should be busy preparing his defence instead of getting fooled by an illegal gathering of impostors,” George said.
The AFN assures Nigerians that the federation is a creation of the federal government of Nigeria and no bill asking for it to be autonomous is before the National Assembly.
“We are committed to working with our supervising body, the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development as well as the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) towards the development of track and field in Nigeria and Team Nigeria’s participation in next Illegal, Olympic Games in Tokyo,” George stated.
