By Uzor Odigbo
The World Athletics has yanked off the name of Shehu Ibrahim Gusau and SY Pepple as Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) President and Secretary General (Director General) respectively from it’s website.
The World track and field body subsequently removed the names of the duo from the profile page.
Gusau, barely two weeks ago, was denied access to the official email of the federation.
Gusau had accused both World Athletics (WA) and Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) of conniving with the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development to undermine his power as AFN president.
He had in another letter to World Athletics rejected the roadmap agreed to at a reconciliation meeting brokered by CAA and the adoption of the AFN constitution adopted on November 16,2017 as the official document to guide the operations of the AFN and its elective congress held on June 14 in Abuja.
This was followed by World Athletics’ warning that the AFN elective congress must be held on June 14, 2021 using the 2017 AFN constitution.
Gusau insisted on using the purportedly amended 2017 constitution adopted at a disputed congress of the AFN on December 4, 2019 in Awka, the Anambra state capital as the federation’s working document and used it to conduct an elective congress in Kebbi where he was reportedly re-elected by alleged hand-picked delegates for another four year term.
Meanwhile Gusau says he will challenge the AFN elective congress held on June 14, 2021 in Abuja and which brought in Tonobock Okowa as the new president of the federation.
Okowa’s election has been endorsed by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, the AFN’s biggest sponsor and partner, the Nigeria Olympic Committee who witnessed the inauguration of the new Okowa led board in Abuja on Tuesday June 15, 2021 in Abuja.
Major stakeholders including the Nigerian coaches association and that of the officiating have congratulated Okowa as the new AFN boss
