AFN to Gara Gombe: You can’t fool all Nigerians at all time

Stakeholders in Nigeria athletics have reacted to a statement by the chairman of Gombe State Athletics Association, Shuaib Gara Gombe, that the AFN Congress may move against the Federation’s President, Chief Tonobok Okowa.

In a bid to discredit the good work by the Okowa-led AFN Board, particularly in the build up to the Africa Games, Gara Gombe has teamed up with some AFN ‘rebel’ board members by conjuring up unfounded stories about Okowa and the AFN Secretary General, Rita Mosindi.

In his latest attempt to rubbish the AFN board, Gara Gombe, who is known for crying wolf where there is none, said that some members of AFN Congress are unhappy with the present Executive Board.

Gara Gombe was quoted by one of AFN’s ‘rebels,’ Dare Esan, in his online publication, Sportsnow.com.ng, that about 15 members of the congress met in Kaduna over the weekend and have scheduled another meeting for Akure, Ondo State, in the coming weeks.

But the Chairman of Jigawa State Athletics Association, Mohammed Adamu has revealed, that there was no such meeting held in Kaduna as quoted by Gara Gombe and Dare Esan.

“I am the Chairman of Jigawa Athletics Association and the Chairman of all Chairmen in charge of athletics in northern Nigeria. I can tell you that no meeting of such took place in Kaduna.
“There is no way a meeting concerning athletics will hold in the North without my concept. All they said is pure lie,” Adamu said.

The writer, Dare Esan, who fell out with the AFN President after his failed attempt to swindle him (Okowa) of N6million has been spreading falsehood capable of causing disunity among the board members.

The Ilesa-born sports journalist, Esan, who is reputed for his blackmail in the Nigerian sports, particularly within the AFN family, was said to have approached Okowa in 2022 to ask for N6million to enable him develop a website to generate money to feed his family since his newspaper outfit was out of circulation.

According to our findings, Okowa told Esan to give him some few weeks to sort things out.
But an impatient Esan suddenly took offence, and since then, has been waging wars against the innocent AFN boss in the name of fighting a genuine course on behalf of Nigeria’s athletics.

Esan stated in his latest report that AFN Congress will meet soon to trash issues bothering on the 5-man audit panel that investigated the Secretary General’s involvement in financial dealings of the federation.

“The AFN Board met late last year, and all issues concerning the SG’s involvement in monetary issue raised by the 5-man audit panel were trashed out. We also deliberated on the N40million refund made to Okowa, and our conclusion was that he deserved to have his money back since it was part of the money he borrowed the AFN to run some of its activities.

The same Okowa has been lending money AFN to run its activities this year. Gara Gombe and Dare Esan cannot take us backward. We just concluded our National Trials in Asaba, and our focus is on how to give our athletes adequate preparation for the Africa Games in Ghana,” one board member said.

The AFN board has told the general public to ignore the deceptive news being circulated by the duo of Gara Gombe and Dare Esan,