DG Sport Commission Promises To Resolve Leadership Crisis In Gymnastics Federation …As Stakeholders Insist On Election

By Bukar BOLORI

The Director General, National Sport Commission, Bukola Olopade has promised to address and resolve the leadership crisis currently engulfed the Gymnastics Federation of Nigeria.

This is as one of the candidates for the chairmanship of the federation, Alhaja Kafilat Olalere, insisted on a transparent and all inclusive election to choose the executives of the body.

The outgoing President of the Federation had earlier conducted an election which was nullified by the NSC for failing to meet the required expectation of the law.

NSC, thereafter, fixed a date for another election on two different occasions but unfortunately, it has since failed to organise another one leaving many delegates who converged on Abuja at the weekend to be part of elections into almost all the sporting federations bewildered and dissatisfied.

Speaking at the weekend in Abuja during the election of executives of other federations under the National Sport Commission, Olapade said he will be sitting down with the two gladiators in GFN to resolve the crisis.

However, Olalere who is contesting the GFN President’s position with Kelvin Erunmwase said the only way to resolve the issue is to allow them to go to the polls.

She maintained that only properly conducted election that allows all stakeholders’ to participate will be acceptable to her.

She told journalist that the elections to the other federations have been held encouraging and peaceful.

She added that: “We are just not happy that our federation election did not hold. That is the Gymnastics Federation of Nigeria. We received the correspondence that there will be an election on the 25th from the sports commission.

“Every delegate that are elected expected to vote is here. Everybody is here from across the nation only to be told that there will be no election.

“But we have not been communicated as to why the election is not going to hold. Hopefully, we expect that maybe before the end of the entire election process, we will get feedback as to when the election will be. Because people have come in from every state of the federation to participate in the election.

“So we are still waiting. The election is still very much in process. The day is still young.”

Responding to DG’s promise to resolve the crisis at a round table between the two candidates, Olalere said: “No, it has to be an election. We’ve had enough roundtables. We’ve had enough back and forth. The only thing that will resolve this issue once and for all is an election.

“Well, yes, there was a round table meeting before now but it was inconclusive because if there is a proposition to the parties involved and one party is still not in agreement, we still have to go to the election.

“So election is the main act that determines who wins and who loses. So we just want everything to be transparent. We want election and not selection.

“So that’s just the argument. The stakeholders want to be a party to appointing who leads them for the next four years. So a situation whereby a particular constituent has been disenfranchised will not go well with the stakeholders in gymnastics.

“So what we just want is not just having an agreement whereby some of the parties still disagree. So that’s not a good way to keep our house in order because we still need to ensure that for the next administration there is peace, there is harmony in gymnastics. So in order to facilitate that, we need to allow people to exhibit their constitutional rights which allow them to vote their preferred candidate into the leadership position.”

Other stakeholders of the Gymnastics Federation of Nigeria also argued that the only way out of this logjam is election.

Dr. Ajibola Samson of Nigeria Association for Physical, Health, Education, Recreation, Sports and Dance, (NAPHER-SD) said there must be inclusivity in the process and no group under the Gymnastics Federation should be left out.

Other stakeholders -Richard Jatau, North East Representative, John Abiodun Oyewuwo, South West Representative and Dr. Oladipo Samuel Stakeholder from Ekiti expressed their disappointment that the election for the GFN did not hold on Saturday as planned.