Aggrieved contestants of the 2017 National Sports Federation Elections will know their fate tomorrow after the decision of the Election Appeals Committee is made public tomorrow in Abuja.
The June 13 polls in Abuja were embroiled in controversies following the disqualification of some candidates on the Election Day.
A member of the Appeals Committee for the last National Sports Federations elections, Emmanuel Zira told NationSport yesterday that the committee would round up its sitting today as well as brief the Minister of Youth and Sports, while the decision of the committee would be made know to the public through a press conference in Abuja.
The Appeals Committee is handling 20 petitions from 11 sports federations and they are expected to disclose their decisions on Friday (tomorrow) after briefing the Sports Minister on Thursday (today).
“We are going to have our final sitting on all petitions on Thursday and we will also brief the minister on our findings while we will make the decision known to the public on Friday so that all aggrieved contestants can know their fate,” he said.
He however, said that for subsequent elections, the list of delegates should be known one year before the election as this would ensure that the right people are allowed to vote and be voted for during the election.
“It is very important that the delegates to this kind of election is known one year before the election because the idea of knowing the delegates few days to the election is not too good as it will allow some State Director of Sports to assign their cronies as delegates. Also the issue of disqualification should not be encouraged as this would disenfranchise some genuine people from making the board,” he added.
“Just like the Sports Minister had said that after the inauguration every federation will be encouraged to draw up their statues which will be vetted by the Sports Ministry, Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) before being forwarded to the International Federations. In drawing up the statues, the law of the land must be considered and the idea of sending the statues directly to the International Federations should not be allowed as those in charge of sports in the country must also be considered to vet such statues whether it is in tandem with the law of the land,” Zira opined.