Minister of Sports Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi
| credits: File copy
| credits: File copy
The elections into the executive positions of federations have been confirmed by the Ministry of Sports to hold on Tuesday but by Sunday most of the candidates residing outside Abuja had moved over to the Federal Capital Territory in what one of the candidates called “staying alert.”
The candidate told our correspondent that they had become alert as it was obvious that some incumbent officers are bent on manipulating the official lists of qualified candidates, especially those approved by international federations. Last week The PUNCH published a revealing story on the intrigues going on concerning the elections after our investigations proved that some names of qualified candidates had been omitted while names of some unqualified candidates were smuggled into the list being prepared for the elections.
The Minister of Sports Bolaji Abdullahi told The PUNCH last Thursday that his office would ensure fairness to all contestants. He said, “The list we finally got from the federations through the Nigeria Olympic Committee had all the qualified candidates. There could have been some errors in the original draft but we are also using our independent machinery to crosscheck all the entries to confirm that they are all qualified for the international federation slots.”
On Sunday, the sports ministry confirmed the electoral procedure through a press release.
It reads, “The National Sports Federation Electoral Committee wishes to announce that the elections for the positions of President and Vice President in the Boards of Sports Federations will hold on Tuesday, May 14, 2013. The elections will take place at the National Stadium, Abuja, starting from 10 am.”
It was however announced that election would not hold in boxing. “The NSFEC wishes however to state that elections for the positions of President and Vice president in the board of the Nigeria Boxing Federation have been postponed. The NBF’s statute, which is a requirement, is not ready. A draft has been submitted to the International Boxing Association (AIBA) but has not been approved.”
The federations showing signs of real battle for change or continuation of leadership are athletics, basketball, handball and table tennis federations. On Sunday, Fidelis Gadzama denied that he had sold his vote to one of his opponents into the board of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria.
He said, “I have heard stories and have been bombarded by calls and messages that I have been bought over. I am still in the race for the presidency of the AFN.”
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