The emergency congress of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), yesterday, in Abuja, shot down the controversial tenure elongation proposed by some board members at their yearly congress held in January this year.
The emergency congress also approved a new logo for the AFN, just as it gave the president power to call for an emergency meeting whenever necessary.
At the AFN yearly congress in January, the first vice president, Tafida Gadzama, was said to have raised a bill seeking to extend the president’s tenure to 16 years, instead of 12 years. The proposal needed the approval of the extraordinary congress to become law.
However, congress turned down the 16-year tenure proposal, and instead, approved 12 years (three terms of four years each).
Apart from being the global practice with World Athletics, the approved 12 years tenure by the congress is in line with the code that governs sports federations in Nigeria.
The congress also cleared the controversies surrounding the power to call an emergency meeting, saying that the AFN president has the final say and right to do so after consulting with board members.
Meanwhile, the Northeast geopolitical zone, made up of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe states, has submitted a letter to the congress, asking for the recall of the first vice president, Tafida Gadzama, from the AFN board.
The Northeast zone claimed that Gadzama, who has served under the AFN board of two past presidents, Solomon Ogba and Ibrahim Gusau, is not representing them effectively. Gadzama was also part of the brief tenure of Olamide George, who headed the AFN board when Gusau was impeached.
Responding to the bid to recall Gadzama, the AFN congress directed the Northeast zone to go back, sort out their matter and report back to it.
The Guardian learnt that the Northeast officially dropped a letter with the AFN secretariat indicating their intention to withdraw Gadzama from the current board headed by Tonobok Okowa.
Chairmen and secretaries of Athletics Associations from 35 states and the FCT attended the emergency congress, which also had eight, out of 13 board members, in attendance.
Today, the AFN’s All Comers event will hold at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja, while the Golden League comes up tomorrow.
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