The National Association of Women in Sports ( NAWIS ) has commended the National Sports Commission (NSC), following its intervention over the disputed election of former Nigerian athlete, Fatima Yusuf- Olukoju as NAWIS representative into the board of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN).
After the NAWIS election that took place in Abuja on Monday, the Director General of the NSC, Hon. Bukola Olopade, held a reconciliatory meeting with the association and its principal contestants in the polls, Fatima Yusuf-Olukoju and veteran sports journalist, Nneka Anibeze, to iron out differences over the outcome of the elections.
The election conducted by NAWIS saw Yusuf-Olukoju beat Anibeze but both have decided to forge a common front and work together for the overall interest of the girl-child and women empowerment in Nigerian sports.
A delighted Fatima Yusuf-Olukoju said after the meeting, she is overwhelmed with the detailed attention the current NSC leadership is giving to Nigerian Sports, adding NAWIS is very proud with the current re-engineering going on Nigerian Sports.
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She said: ” The DG is one person that can bring everybody to one table and make us talk which is what we need in our sports so Nigerian sports is proud to have someone like him and the Chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko leading our Sports.
“We are all family and as family, people do fight but the goal is to amend and move on because we all have one common goal which is to see that the AFN succeeds.
” No hard feelings between me and Nneka because I won the NAWIS race. She loves athletics and has been with athletics for a very long time. She even covered me as an athlete so I consider her as an ambassador of AFN. We will team up together and move the federation forward”, she concluded.
Nneka Anibeze on her part also praised the role the Director General of the NSC played for post-election tensions not to escalate.
” I thank the DG for coming in and brokering peace because it actually would not have gone well. He called myself and everyone, and we have all agreed to accept Fatima,” she said. “She is an icon of athletics and Someone who also has her plans for women and girls which is similar to what I had plans for.
“We also share the same passion and with the help of the DG, we have now agreed to work together for the same goal and believe better things are ahead,” she added.