Athletics Federation of Nigeria is at crossroads and unable to plan for the upcoming African Games and Olympics next year.
This logjam it was gathered was a direct fall out of a recent financial report in which the AFN president Tonobok Okowa was prompted to refund the sum of N40m he loaned the federation to enable Nigerian athletes compete in AFN organised, All Comers golden league, national championships and also travel to the last World Championships in Budapest.
The board of the AFN had reached an agreement with Okowa to loan the money to the federation, pending when a sponsorship agreement negotiated with Premium Trust Bank will mature. But in a twist of development, the financial report committee headed by the vice president Wadzani Gadzama included a footnote, which mandated the president to make the refund.
Stung, embarrassed, and feeling betrayed by the financial audit committee, Okowa has taken a reserved approach in handling AFN affairs, and this has brought business to a snarling pace.
Speaking on the development, former national hammer thrower and athletes advocate Gabriel Opuana lambasted the members of the financial audit report committee whom he accused of acting in personal interests.
“This is totally embarrassing, and the action of the financial audit report committee is geared towards tarnishing the image of the president.
“Was it not the same board that agreed with him to loan the money pending when the sponsorship money will come?
“So, on what premise are they asking the president to make a refund? On whose interest are they acting, personal or track and field? Opuana said fumingly.
“How can we have ex internationals including an Olympian like Gadzama on the board of the AFN yet all we have is crisis after crisis. How can Gadzama, an athlete of international repute be colluding with an individual who was smuggled into the board by a former sports minister to subvert workings of the AFN? He should be kicked out of the board, because he is not constitutionally recognised. There is no letter of sorts from the Sports Ministry endorsing his appointment to the board nor was he elected.
“These guys need to resign from the board now if they are not keen to make any meaningful contributions that will help track and field grow in Nigeria.
“On their own, how many board members have brought sponsorship to the AFN?
Opuana said that with these unending spins in the AFN, sponsors wouldn’t touch the federation even with a long pole.
“Which individual or company on earth will be willing to sponsor Nigerian athletics with this sort of witch hunt in the AFN.
“They even went on air to announce that the marketer who negotiated the sponsorship with Premium Trust got 30 percent, violating a non-disclosure agreement. Which deal maker would want to work sponsorship for the AFN with this kind of behavior?
Opuana added that because of the uncooperative attitude of the board members, athletics is suffering.
“This is December, and the calendar for next season is not out. There is no plan for our athletes’ participation in the African Games and Olympics.
“Yet three board members have the time to sit down and be generating controversies to promote their personal interests. Everyone should be making sacrifices to help the sport.
“At the last World Championships in Budapest, when there was not enough money to pay the athletes allowances, some of us decided to give up ours so that the athletes could be paid. But one of the board members causing problems in the AFN collected his in full.”
Gadzama denied witch hunting the AFN president when confronted with the matter. He said it was the president who gave the mandate to audit the finances.
“First of all, I’m not after the president’s job, and we did what we did to sanitize track and field. Auditing finances is in the interest of the track field to cure years of rot in the federation. Too much impunity,” Gadzama stated
“The option of a refund suits the circumstances of the audit, and I heard a private conversation with the president, which I’m not going to share. He knows what I’m talking about. He is my boss and I respect him. Isn’t it right to do my job diligently and unbiased?
“Please, they should indicate where we were wrong. If they are not satisfied with the job we did, please, they should look for an independent body to review what we did wrong in the report. He congratulated us for a job well done until otherwise.
“And it is not true that I’m being teleguided by a certain member to bring the roof down.”
Reacting to the development, the AFN president reluctantly submitted that members of the financial audit committee were only mischievous and pursuing an agenda, which would not help the sport grow.
“I first saw the audit report in the AFN platform, and then before you know it, it was out there in the media. Gadzama did not discuss it with me before putting it out there,” said Okowa.
“At the beginning of the 2023 season, the vice president, the secretary-general, and technical director were in my house to discuss how to get money to run the All Comers, the Golden League and the national trials
“Since the sponsorship funds was not yet available we all concluded that I should advance N40m to the AFN, it was from the this money we did the All Comers, golden league, national championships and we even bought tickets for some of the athletes who went to Budapest since the Ministry was not yet ready to release funds.
“So when the sponsorship funds came, I collected my money, not even all of it, because I have to leave some for them to keep the federation going. So now they turn around to write that I should refund money?
“These are board members who don’t contribute a dime whenever we are having a program. Rather, they are the ones creating problems all the time.”
