There appears to be no end in sight to the crisis plaguing the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN.
Some AFN board members, led by the embattled president of the association, Shehu Gusau, are now on a collision course with the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development who they accused of interference.
At an Extraordinary Congress held on Wednesday in Awka, Anambra State, barley 24 hours after a similar exercise was carried out in Abuja, some decisions that were earlier taken by the ministry were upturned while the federation declared ‘total autonomy’ according to ‘international best practices’.
In a communiqué signed by Saidu Suleman, Chairman, Resolutions Drafting Committee; Shehu Kagara (Member, Resolutions Drafting Committee) and the Secretary of the Drafting Committee, Emmanuel Okonkwo, the AFN stated that in line with international best practices and in conformity with the Statutes of the World Athletics (WA) and the Confederation of African Athletics CAA, the board will immediately proceed to register the federation with the relevant agencies.
Also, the federation slammed a two-year suspension on six of its board members, appointed a new Secretary-General and relocated its headquarters among other far-reaching decisions.
The six members of the board suspended include Olamide George, Brown Ebewele, Gabriel Okon, Rosa Collins, Sani Mohammed and Fidelis Gadzama.
The communique stated that the six were suspended for two calendar years with effect from Dec 4, 2019, for anti- federation activities.
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