By Fidelis Ebu
The lobby of Abuja National Stadium venue of the inauguration of National Sports Federation board was rowdy as huge number of delegates were locked out.
Sports journalists were among the crowd milling around as they were also barred from gaining access to the lobby to witness the inauguration.
The huge crowd followed the sudden expansion of number of delegates of each sport from the usual 13 to 50.
Remarkably, the crowd control was from the main gate of the abuja National Stadium.
But the delegates maneuvered their way into the stadium and lobby.
Crises Rocks Athletics
Could the swearing in of Shehu Gusau as president Athletic Federation of Nigeria be a disaster to Nigerian athletes? Rosa Collins, a member of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria that was inaugurated said Gusau was an impostor on the federation.
“Shehu Gusau is an impostor. He was imposed on the federation by the Sports Minister and Chairman of the National sports Commission. And we won’t accept him as the AFN president as he did not win the election”, Rosa Collins said at the Abuja National Stadium.
Rosa, who had represented the country in major events – All Africa Games, Commonwealth Games and Olympics in Triple jump, said Gusau did not get the delegates’ mandate to lead the federation.
Corroborating Rosa’s claim, Brown Ebewele said Gusau does not belong to any athketics body to contest an election into athletics governing body. “You can imagine delegates from five of the six states in the Northwest voted for Rosa Collins as delegates from of the states in the zones were absent.
“Gusau being imposed to administer athletics he is not knowledgeable about,is a disaster
“If the stolen mandate is not restored, we’ll register our displeasure to the appropriate quarter” Brown Ebewele said.