The Attention of the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, has been drawn to a publication titled “Presidency Should Call Mr.Sunday Akin Dare to Order Before He Embarrasses Nigeria, By Sylvanus Ofekun” which was published by Sahara Reporters and reproduced by a few other platforms that did not conduct the professionally expected due diligence on the false claims made in the said piece.

The article was shopped to several national publications that turned it down on account of its misleading, libelous and attempt to fraudulently rewrite facts and information that have been in the public domain about the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN).

It is common knowledge that the former AFN president, Engineer Ibrahim Shehu Gusau with his co-travellers is desperate to extricate himself from a contract that he controversially signed the AFN into, which has now placed him in a position of trying to blackmail Team Nigeria into wearing the kits. Ibrahim Gusau has conveniently neglected to tell Nigerians that he and Sunday Adeleye signed a non-disclosure agreement with PUMA, which details are unknown the the Ministry and board members of the AFN. The Minister and the Ministry will not commit the Nigerian government and Nigerian athletes to a deal of which the Ministry has not sighted the contractual documents that ties Nigerian athletes to a five year contract with PUMA.

As is statutory, the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) is responsible for Team Nigeria’s participation in the Tokyo Olympics, and President Muhammadu Buhari, represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has formally handed over the team to NOC. Unfortunately, Gusau, as a former AFN president, did not write any official letter to the NOC about the kits neither did he contact the incumbent AFN Secretary General to take them over just as he did not remit them to the known address of the AFN, which is AFN Secretariat at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja. He ran the PUMA deal as a purely personal enterprise, which landed him in trouble with the law.

Engineer Gusau and his accomplices in the controversial PUMA deal were docked before a competent court in a criminal case with suit Number CR/99/2020 IGP Vs Ibrahim Shehu Gusau & two others, for criminal conspiracy, misappropriation, criminal breach of trust and cheating in violation of the Nigeria Penal Code. The trial is ongoing and a copy of the charge sheet is attached to this statement. It is pertinent to await the outcome of this criminal trial before making further clarifications on the extent of treachery that the disgraced former AFN president committed against the Athletics Federation of Nigeria and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Ministry has adequately apprised the Presidency, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation and the Inspector General of Police of the criminality involved in the PUMA deal.

In the interim, it is pertinent to state that while the AFN is one of the 38 federations overseen by the Ministry as enshrined in the relevant extant legislation, the Honourable Minister is not responsible for the day to day running of any federation as this is a responsibility for the various secretariats of the federations. It is therefore uncharitable for Gusua, through his hirelings, to insinuate that the Minister is responsible for his troubles. Gusau should face his ongoing trial for criminal conspiracy, misappropriation, criminal breach of trust and cheating and not involve the Minister in the mess he got himself into.

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