Fresh crisis looms as Dare dissolves 31 sports federations

The Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Sunday Dare yesterday dissolved 31 sports federations with only two months to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The Minister said the four-year tenure of the federations as stipulated by the Olympics Charter had expired.

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The move by the minister took many by surprise because expectations were that the federations would be reconstituted immediately after the Olympics.

However, the Minister represented by the director, federation elites and athletes department, Dr Simon Ebohjaiye said the tenure of the National Olympic Sports Federations in Nigeria have come to an end and there is a need for a transition from the old boards to the new ones.

“Having run a full Olympic cycle, the boards of the NSFs inaugurated on 21 June 2017 are hereby dissolved to pave way for fresh elections.

“In order to ensure continuity in the administration of the federations, Caretaker Committees are hereby put in place to manage the affairs of the federations until elections are conducted and the new boards inaugurated,” he said.

Dare further said the ministry has concluded plans to organise elections into the federations using the Code of Governance.

Meanwhile, the boards of the 31 sports federations have declared their sacking as illegal saying they have two more months to the end of their tenure.

The factional technical director of the AFN, Sunday Adeleye, said the minister erred in his decision to sack the boards.

“We were inaugurated on June 21, 2017 which means our 4 year tenure is yet to elapse. You are aware that we have fixed our elections for June 14 and it will hold.

“All the 31 federations will meet on Tuesday and make our position on this illegality known,” he said.