By Olalekan Okusan
The President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Tonobok Okowa has said that they are in touch with the World Athletics (WA) on the outcome of the June 14 election held in Abuja.
AFN has been embroiled in a leadership crisis since 2019 after the Ibrahim Gusau-led board of the AFN declared autonomy from the sports ministry at a congress in Awka, Anambra State, and this action resulted in the suspension of Gusau by some members of the board, led by then AFN Vice President Olamide George.
Gusau was eventually impeached and George was made the acting president. He however approached the court to quash his suspension and impeachment to win at the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.
On June 14, two separate elections were held in Kebbi and Abuja with Gusau returning as AFN President from Kebbi election while Okowa was unanimously elected at the Abuja election.
But as athletics buffs await the final decision of WA on the leadership crisis, Okowa told journalists yesterday in Lagos that his board has been in touch with the world body, adding that all the election materials and the outcome of the election have been sent to WA while they are also awaiting the response of the world body.
He, however, refused further comments while emphasizing that the board is focusing on qualifying Nigeria for the relay event of Tokyo 2020. “We have sent all the outcome of the election including some election materials to WA and we are in touch with them. But I would not want to comment more on this as my focus is on how we can have our teams qualifying for the relay events of the Olympic Games,” Okowa said.
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