Court of Appeal Declares Minister’s Faction of Athletics Federation ILLEGAL.
Sports’ Minister Dare: The Dirty Game Is Over!
Minister Sunday Dare Should Show Respect for the Rule of Law
Written By Taiwo Ebudola
For the second time in one month, two different levels of the Federal judiciary have declared the actions of the Minister for Sports regarding the AFN as unconstitutional and illegal. The duly elected President
of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria ( AFN) , Engr. Ibrahim Shehu- Gusau had gone to court challenging the emergence of a faction of the Federation which was unarguably under the sponsorship of the
Minister.
It is unconscionable that a Minister of our Federal Republic will so openly and actively sponsor and fraternize with an illegal group that is clearly stagnating and destroying the potentials and the prospects of Nigeria’s Sports sector.
Now with two separate unambiguous rulings against the puppet AFN faction incubated by Minister Sunday Dare, should there be any cause for further delay in allowing the legitimately elected board of the athletics to function? Will the Minister act in a way that gives authenticity to his appellation as ‘’
Honourable’’ by duly disbanding the illegal gang of Olamide George’s board immediately after the public holidays? It’s now almost one year into Sunday Dare’s tenure and there’s no single significant
achievement to the Minister’s profile. All there’s to talk about regarding Sunday Dare’s Ministry is a theatre of crisis and confusion particularly regarding the affairs of the Sports Federations.
The various Sports Federations are supposed to function as autonomous spark plugs to accelerate the flourish of the Sports’ sector. The Minister has instead been very busy deactivating these dynamic units of Sports in general.
What further miserable and shameless excuse will the Minister contort and manufacture next week, to regrettably delay the constitutional resumption of the activities of the AFN under, Engr. Ibrahim Shehu-Gusau, as the legitimate President of the Sports Federation? The time is over for Sunday Dare’s Ministerial dirty games, it’s time to take Nigerian athletics off Sunday Dare’s track of disaster. The Athletics World is sick and tired of the deliberate squandering of AFN’s valuable time and the
decimation of the aspirations of Nigerian athletes.
Two Courts have made unequivocal pronouncements roundly denouncing the Minister’s conduct regarding the AFN within one month. These were two unambiguous decisions which should compel due and respectful compliance by the Ministry of Sports.
The first was by Federal High Court 3 in Abuja on July 1st, where Hon. Justice A.I. Chikere affirmed that the Olamide-George faction of the AFN being propelled by the Minister represented the zenith of illegality. In favourably granting the entire petition by the Engr. Shehu-Gusau, the Federal High Court in Abuja declared that the emergence of Olamide Geroge as AFN President was an act of grave impunity in audacious violation of the Sports’ Federation constitution. It was the clear intent of the spirit and letters
of the July 1st judgment that, Engr. Shehu-Gusau, will immediately resume duty as the authentic President of the AFN. But the Minister in a curious and diabolical move to delay justice pushed his illegal faction to proceed on appeal. The Minister and his team very well knew that their case was patently without merit. While reserving judgment on the substantive case, the Court of Appeal struck out the application, for the Stay of Execution of the High Court ruling, after the application itself was withdrawn
by the Minister’s AFN faction ( who were the appellants).
By throwing out the application for the Stay of Execution, the Appeal Court has consequently reaffirmed the High Court’s declaration that, Engr. Shehu-Gusau , remains the authentic President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria( AFN).
When every patriotic and unselfish factor is earnestly considered, one would think that this is the golden opportunity for the Sports Minister to redeem his image and follow the path of honor and respect for the rule of law. The Minster must within the next few days change the noxious impression that he has a
Yoruba- jingoistic agenda to suffocate the AFN under Engr. Shehu-Gusau as well as other Sports Federations headed by non-Yoruba Presidents.
For this writer, I shall embrace the best hope, for the next three to four days, that the Minister will immediately and totally dismantle the illegal camp of, Olumide George, which he ( the Minister) sponsored and structured .
It’s time for the Minister Sunday Dare to free the AFN from the virus-like coven of illegalities in which the Ministry of Sports in currently vegetating. History will be harshly unkind to Minister Sunday Dare if
he engages in any further delay.
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