Sunday Dare stopped delivery of Puma kits to athletes: AFN
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), the umbrella body for athletics in Nigeria, has revealed that the minister for youth and sports, Sunday Dare, halted the distribution of sport kits to Nigerian Olympians due to a personal feud between the sports minister and the chairman of the AFN board.
In 2019, the AFN, led by Ibrahim Gusau, struck a four-year sponsorship and license arrangement with PUMA, a German sportswear manufacturing firm, in which the company agreed to offer free apparel to all age divisions of the Nigerian athletics team for four years.
In addition, medalists in the Olympics were to be paid for wearing PUMA apparel during the competition.
Peoples Gazette gathered that the execution of the contract was brought to a halt by Mr Dare because of a leadership tussle between the Gusau-led AFN board and a factional board Mr Dare sought to impose.
The AFN in a series of tweets Wednesday said Mr Dare had vowed that Nigerian athletes will not wear the PUMA kits over the feud he had with Mr Gusau, and frustrated several efforts to get the PUMA kits across to the athletes in Tokyo.
“Several efforts were made to give the athletes the PUMA kits including shipping bags of kits with 40 items each to Tokyo through the Nigerian Embassy in Japan but Mr Dare wrote to the Ambassador stopping him from sending the kits to the athletes,” AFN tweeted.
Mr Dare’s basis for displaying contempt towards the Gusau-led AFN board was vacated, according to the AFN, by an investigation conducted by the State Security Service, SSS, which cleared Mr Gusau’s AFN board and its marketing firm, Dynamic Sporting Solutions Nigeria Limited, of allegations of receiving money meant for the AFN.
“It will be recalled that on September 3, 2020 the Department of State Services DSS cleared the Ibrahim Gusau led board and its marketing firm, Dynamic Sporting Solutions Nigeria limited of receiving money meant for the AFN,” AFN concluded in the series of tweets.
Because of insufficient sporting kits and inefficiency in guaranteeing compliance with the Olympics competition standards, the consequences of Mr Dare’s decision have been devastating for Nigerian athletes competing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with several of them speaking out against the ineptitude.
Mr Dare did not respond to calls and messages from The Gazette requesting his comment on the matter.
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette
Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices
Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”
World
I’ve made UK better, stronger than my predecessor: Keir Starmer
Mr Starmer hailed himself for taking the Labour Party from “historic defeat” in 2019 to winning the country’s general election in 2024, when it ousted the Conservative Party.
Economy
CSCS declares N1 interim dividend after half-year earnings
The company noted that the interim dividend represented 56 per cent of the total dividend of N1.78 per share paid for the 2025 financial year.
Health
Mental health key to attaining excellence in children, says expert
He said children perform better academically and socially when the learning environment supports their emotional well-being.
States
Court dismisses Ned Nwoko’s suit challenging Okowa’s candidacy for Delta North senatorial district
The Federal High Court, Abuja, rejected Mr Nwoko’s suit seeking to void Mr Okowa’s emergence as the APC candidate for the Delta North senatorial district.
Heading 1
Reps begin review of state police bill
“The House and the Senate are working in tandem with each other to make sure that the significant amendments are achieved,” he said.
Economy
Nigeria’s $40 billion net foreign reserves validate Tinubu’s economic reforms: TSF
“The increase from about $3 billion to more than $40 billion within three years, therefore, represents a substantial strengthening of Nigeria’s financial buffers,” the group said.
