World Athletics, the governing body for track and field globally says it is investigating the crisis that has torn apart the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN).
This followed a petition sent by board members of the AFN to World Athletics accusing its president, Engr Ibrahim Shehu Gusau of violating several articles of the federation’s constitution as well as usurping the functions of the Secretary General of the federation.
“World Athletics is aware of the internal dispute within the Athletic Federation of Nigeria and is making enquiries to establish the facts of the matter,” wrote Nicole Jeffery, World Athletics’ Head of Communications in her response to an enquiry from Complete Sports.
The AFN crisis began in September 2017 when Gusau appointed the athletes’ representative on the board of the federation, Sunday Adeleye as its technical director.
The decision was flatly rejected by majority of the board members who felt that the position was not only meant for a trained coach but also that former Nigerian international, Brown Ebewele was elected by the technical arm of the sport to represent its interest on the board.
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They argued that elections into the board had taken care of some positions like that of athletes and technical representatives and asked if the president would have appointed another board member as athletes representative after the athletes had elected who would be their eyes and ears on the board.
The crisis thereafter snowballed into a constitutional one following series of violations of articles of the 2017 constitution of the federation by Gusau.
The members accused the federation’s president of violating article 6.1.4 of the constitution, alleging that Gusau convened a congress of the AFN 29 days before the event instead of the 60 days specified by the 2017 AFN constitution.
Gusau was also accused of denying the Secretary General, Prince Adisa Beyioku the opportunity to perform his duties as specified by the constitution and went ahead to appoint a Director General for the AFN, a position alien to the federation.
The president was also accused of foisting a new constitution on the federation without regard to the relevant articles of the constitution which makes it mandatory that a proposal for the amendment of the constitution must be submitted by a member state association at least six months to the date of the congress where the amendment is to take place while the Secretary General must send the proposal to member state associations at least three months before the congress.
