The protracted factionalisation of the Nigeria’s Athletics Body has came to a smooth end following World Athletics (WA) endorsement of the June 14 Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) elective congress held in Abuja where Tonobock Okowa was elected as AFN president for the next four years.
The confirmation TheNicheng.com learnt was delivered Friday to Okowa by Sebastian Coe, World Athletics president during the start of the athletics event of the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympics and in the presence of Nigeria’s Sports Minister Sunday Dare and Nigeria Olympic Committee President, Habu Gumel.
The AFN was in protracted crisis since 2017 which splits the board into two factions, one led by its former president, Ibrahim Shehu Gusau and the other by Olamide George, the federation’s former vice-president.
The crisis was not resolved until the Confederation of African Athletics sent two high powered delegates to broker peace among the board members.
The crisis resolution meeting agreed on a road map for the June 14 elective congress with the federation’s constitution adopted on November 16, 2017 at a congress presided by Gusau to be used for the conduct of the election
Gusau refused to sign the agreement but World Athletics insisted the 2017 must be the working document for the AFN and which must be used for the elective congress.
World Athletics has also released the password to the official email of the federation to Prince Adisa Adeniyi Beyioku, the Secretary General appointed in November 2019 pursuant to article 8.7.2 of the AFN constitution.