Former international athlete, Seigha Porbeni, has described as ‘big distraction’ a report by an audit committee set up by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) to investigate its finances, which is now causing ripples among board members.
The AFN had set up a five-man committee on September 16 to investigate its finances. The committee, headed by its First Vice President, Tafida Gadzama, had Victor Okorie, Samuel Onikeku, Oludare Esan and Mrs Maria Worphil as members.
The panel report had, among other things, questioned some financial transactions made by AFN Secretary General, Mrs Rita Moshindi. However, some individuals, including athletes and coaches, have picked holes in the panel’s report, particularly its objection to the refund of N40 million, which AFN President, Chief Tonobok Okowa, lent the federation to organise some competitions, including the Golden League, pending when it received money from their lead sponsor, Premium Trust Bank.
Speaking with The Guardian, yesterday, Porbeni, who is AFN’s head coach, said: “When two elephants fight, they say it is the grass that suffers. All these are serious distractions because AFN’s programme’s funding for the 2024 season has not been discussed by the board for approval and release for effective training of both athletes and coaches.”
Porbeni, a former Director of Sports in Delta State, hinted that in about 130 days from now, the African Games will commence in Ghana, adding that the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is barely three months away.
“Since NCAA finals would be in progress within the same period, we are depending almost 90 per cent on our home-based athletes that should be camped soonest.
“All I want to say is that the AFN president should expect this sort of distraction, but like President Bola Tinubu, he should ignore and forge ahead. Success silences your distractors. Okowa should focus on the huge challenges ahead of the AFN in 2024, as finger pointing at one another at this point will help no one.”
The Guardian recalls that AFN scribe, Mrs. Rita Moshindi, had said that some members of the Audit Panel are merely witch-hunting, adding that she did nothing wrong to warrant their allegation of misappropriating AFN’s money.
She explained: “At the beginning of the 2023 season, there was no money for AFN to execute its programmes. It was becoming an embarrassment, and the first Vice President, Gadzama, Technical Director, Onikeku and myself drove to our president’s house in Abuja. At that brief meeting, we begged him (Tonobok Okowa) to rescue AFN from the impending embarrassment by giving us some money to enable us hold our programmes, promising that he would be reimbursed when money comes from our sponsors. It was never a donation.”
