The Chairman Board of Trustees of Athletics and Other Sports Development Initiative, Ahmed Shuaibu Gara-Gombe has called for the immediate removal of President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) over Nigeria’s athletes U18 /U-20 age falsification probe by the Athletics Integrity Unit, AIU.
Gombe has therefore given the NSC two weeks to Suspend Okowa until after the investigation they promised to carry out, insisting that if they foot-drag, and allow him to remain in office, all of them would have to go”.
In a press statement made available to journalists in Abuja on Tuesday Gombe said, “The recent query by Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) to the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) did not come to him as a surprise”..
According to him, “The AFN under Tonobok Okowa has been a disappointment and embarrassment to Nigeria. The National Sports Commission (NSC) must and should not treat the matter with levity, but should they resolve to treat the issue with kid gloves, I won’t be surprised.’
Gombe alleged that ‘It was the same NSC that manipulated the system and supported Okowa’s emergence as President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria with nothing to show for it, encouraging monumental corruption, embezzlement, fraudulent activities, miss-management and lack of accountability under Okowa and arbitrariness without regards to the Constitution of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, without regards to the AFN Congress and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The Chairman of an NGO that advocates Transparency, Accountability and Good Governance in Sports insisted that, ” This matter, must not go untouched. Similar scandal happened in Paris and some people in the defunct Ministry of Sports led by the former Minister John Owen Enoh claimed to have set up a committee to investigate reasons behind the omission of Favour Ofili’s name from the 100m list, and till date no one was sanctioned or even indicted.”
The statement further stated that, “The committee’s report was swept under the carpet. No body was punished or sent to jail. How could you give someone a job and it was concluded and you refused to talk about it.?
He stated “From the time the committee was set up, I said this committee were stooges, robots that can be directed on what to do and they have done it. Though the committee made some recommendations, but no one knows the outcome of their recommendations.Nobody was punished or indicted. Nobody was sent to jail. We pretended everything was alright.”
The former Gombe Amateur Athletics Association Chairman further noted “Now, the same Athletics Federation of Nigeria are back with another scandal and I can assure you that before the end of first quarter of 2026 and before the January 16th date given by AIU, they would be in another scandal to embarrass the Nation”.
“Mr. President is too busy doing many things. If the National Sports Commission cannot help him to deal with these people destroying AFN, then, the NSC have to go down with Okowa. It is either the NSC deal or remove Okowa outrightly or they would go with him.
Gombe insisted “This is a fight to finish. January 16 is just around the corner, fortunately or unfortunately, it is a day after my birthday.