Following claims by PUMA, sportswear manufacturer, that it has ‘fulfilled its obligations to the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) till date’, the body may be set for another tug of controversy with the company claiming that Dynamic Sporting Solutions Nigeria Limited reportedly owned by Sunday Adeleye, former Technical Director of AFN, received the AFN authorized payment.
Prince Adisa Beyioku, AFN Secretary General disclaimed any contractual agreement with AFN and PUMA, he said: “I am the Chief Administrative and Chief Accounting Officer of the AFN as contained in the AFN constitution (2017 as amended), article 8.7.1 and article 4.4.2 of the 2017 Code of Governance as referenced by the AFN constitution in article 8.7.1. I am not aware there is any contractual agreement between the AFN and PUMA. It was not stated in the hand over notes submitted by my predecessor, Elijah Ademu, who was AFN Secretary-General at the time the contract was purportedly signed.”
Beyioku was dumfounded that PUMA could sign a contractual agreement with a World Athletics member federation without the signature of its chief administrative and accounting officer: “The AFN constitution (2017 as amended) states clearly that the Secretary-General shall be the custodian of AFN’s records, documents, and properties and that he shall be privy to all decisions of the AFN (article 8.7.1 of the constitution and 4.4.3 and 4.4.4 of the 2017 Code of Governance referenced by the AFN constitution (2017 as amended).
“I was appointed as AFN Secretary-General on November 1, 2019, in accordance with article 8.7.2 of the AFN constitution (2017 as amended) and 2017 Code of Governance article 4.4.1 as referenced by the AFN constitution and since I resumed as Secretary-General, I have not sighted a copy of the agreement the AFN is purported to have signed with PUMA.”
PUMA revealed in a letter addressed to the vice president of the AFN, Olamide George, and signed by its General Counsel, Dr. Martin Benda, that the sponsoring and licensing agreement was signed on July 24, 2019, stating that Ibrahim Gusau, President of the AFN and Mr. Sunday Adeleye, the former Technical Director, signed on behalf of the federation with the due process followed in the signing of the agreement.
