Governing Bodies
ESTIMATED 8,000 ATHLETES EXPECTED AT EDO 2020 NIGERIA NATIONAL SPORTS FESTIVAL
The Media Office of Nigeria’s sports minister, Chief Sunday Dare has revealed that the much postponed National Sports Festival will still go ahead as planned from April 2nd to 14th.
According to a press release signed by media aide, John Joshua Akanji, an estimated 8,000 athletes are expected to feature in the fiesta that had suffered postponement on about four occasions.
While undertaking a tour of the facilities meant for the festival and during a meeting with the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, Chief Dare said: “on April 2nd, 2021, the camp for the Edo Festival would be opened.
“On April 6th the official opening of the festival by Mr President would take place. But beyond that, we are also working closely with the PTF, NCDC and others to ensure that the necessary support we need in terms of vaccination of athletes and test kits will be available.
“We are also toning down the number of athletes that would be participating from 14,000 to 8,000. I must thank the Governor and his Deputy Governor for taking the lead on this.”
On accommodation of athletes, the minister said: “We have been able to get the University of Benin to host our athletes. There are still some works to be done here which may not be in the radar, but everything is on track I can tell you with certainty that the Edo National Sports Festival will hold.”
After meeting with the governor, His Excellency Godwin Obaseki, his Deputy Comrade Philip Shuaibu, we are reassured that we are on track to host a successful National Sports Festival. All obstacles have been cleared; we are ready for a great festival.
“The event is coming at the most auspicious time when we are preparing for the Olympics.
“This is our local Olympics and we shall make the most of it. The President has given his nod for the festival to take place, there’s no going back”
The festival billed for last year was postponed due to the outbreak of Covid-19.
The new date of February was also moved due to paucity of funds.
Chief Dare had to make a special presentation to the President for funds to support Edo State after the Governor declared that the state lacked the resources to host the festival.
Governing Bodies
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.
The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.
Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.
He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.
An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.
He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.
“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”
Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.
“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.
He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.
“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.
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A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.
Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.
He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.
He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.
Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.
While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.
-Reuters
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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.
Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.
The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.
Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.
“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.
“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”
Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.
“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”
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