Chairman Gombe State AthIetics Association, Hon. Ahmed Shuaibu Gara Gombe has tasked the Board of the AthIetics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) to amicably resolve lingering issues among members before it is too late.
Gombe who stated this in a press statement, said members of the AFN Congress have taken keen interest in the in-fighting going on among AFN Board members and want it resolved in the interest of AthIetes and other stakeholders.
The statement reads thus: “We members of Congress of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria have been most tolerant with the Board, as at today, the Board have placed the entire federation into moral and credibility crisis.
“We (congress) have kept quiet not because we don’t know what to do, not because we are cowards, not because we don’t know our authority but we tried to give peace a chance to see if the Board could retrace its steps but the more we look the other way, the more the Board’s in-fighting continues unabated.”
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Hon. Gara Gombe insisted that should the AFN Board delay in fixing itself, there would be consequences of unimaginable magnitude from congress members.
“The stinking smell of corruption, lack of accountability, transparency, unity, good governance oozing out from the Board of AFN is not only unimaginable but unprecedented. Very soon we (congress) will give the board an ultimatum to fix all these mess going on among themselves, failure to do that will amount to a unified and sustained revolt from the congress in view of taking back our Federation.
“Be inform that not all congress members on the board can influence or throw crumbs as many of us are well established and comfortable.
“We all knew how some of you became Board Members, we also knew your contributions to Athletics or lack of it but above all, we are the congress and authority lies with us.
Those who have ears let them hear,” Gombe concludes.
In recent times, the AFN board has been bedeviled by lingering issues such that some aggrieved members have accused the AFN leadership of over-protecting the federation’s Secretary General Rita Mosindi who was allegedly indicted in AFN special report to have mismanaged the federation’s funds.
Again, the alleged mismanagement of AFN sponsorship funds for which the AFN helmsman Chief Tonobok Okowa withdrew N40 million as funds loaned to the federation also raised some dust.
Hon. Gara Gombe is therefore demanding quick resolution of these issues before it begins to affect set goals of the federation.
He averred that the Unity of AFN members must be firstly restored, the protection Mrs. Mosindi is enjoying from the Sports Minister and AFN President must be withdrawn for her to face the alleged financial misconduct leveled against her by the AFN Special Panel Report