Revealed: How Sports Ministry, AFN Chiefs Spent IAAF’s Missing $135,000 News

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Revealed: How Sports Ministry, AFN Chiefs Spent IAAF’s Missing $135,000

By Daily Sports on May 24, 2019

The main actors in the IAAF’s ‘missing’ $135,000 saga yesterday revealed how the money was ‘spent’ by the sports ministry and some key officials of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN).

The IAAF in 2017 erroneously sent $150,000 to the AFN instead of the annual $15,000 it usually gives to its affiliates.

On discovering the error, the world athletics body wrote to the AFN demanding the return of $135,000, which is the excess amount it paid the Nigerian body. However, after two years, the AFN has not refunded the money, prompting the IAAF to threaten to sanction the country.

On Tuesday, Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung and 11 AFN board members held a marathon meeting in Abuja to among other things, find ways of avoiding the possible IAAF sanctions.

A source at the meeting told The Guardian yesterday that the sports minister was angry with two top officials of the AFN, claiming that he was the main target in the IAAF ‘missing’ $135,000 debacle.

“The minister was really angry because he felt the AFN deliberately leaked IAAF’s letter to the media to ensure he did not return as minister. He said that he approved N39.9 million (about $108,000) from the IAAF money for the AFN to procure kits.

The minister said that when the AFN requested for money to purchase the kits, he told Ibrahim Gusau that the only money available in the ministry was the IAAF money, which he approved. He was angry that Gusau did not carry other board members of the AFN along.

The Guardian learnt that two board members, Rosa Collins and Dare Esan were deliberately excluded from Tuesday’s meeting in Abuja. No reason has been given for their exclusion. (Nigeria Guardian)

Source Daily Sports

Posted May 24, 2019