AFN Board Not Aware Of N15.9m Borrowing From Premium Trust Bank Sponsorship Money – Gadzama

First vice president of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Tafida Gadzama, has insisted that the board of the Federation was never informed of the borrowing of N15.9m to ‘prosecute’ the World Athletics Championships until about a month after when the five-man audit committee was set up to probe the finances of the federation.

Gadzama said in a press statement that the board would never have approved such a borrowing because the money was meant to sponsor competitions for home based athletes.

He said a few board members rejected the initial proposal sent by the Secretary General on the money.

“Thank God for the audit committee, we would never have been told how the Premium Trust Bank Sponsorship money was spent on events and individuals not captured in the terms of agreement with the bank,” Gadzama said, adding that the federation secretary, Rita Moshindi, sent a request to the board on Monday, July 24, 2023 to grant the release of N69,951,560 to pay some debts from the Premium Trust Bank sponsorship money.

‘Please, kindly grant the release of the following monies as debts owed to individuals from the Premium Trust Sponsorship money being payments of refunds,’ Gadzama quoted what the Secretary General wrote in the email titled: Request for approval.

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Some of the requests, according to Gadzama, were for the payment of N20,000,000 for the Region II Senior Athletics Championships held in Lome, Togo in July, N6,000,000 for flight tickets for Ghana Relay Teams to the Lagos Athletics Series event also in July;  N950,000 for Laptops Core i9 1tb and of course the N40,000,000 paid to Tonobok Okowa as refund for some events he  sponsored.

“Of course we found this ridiculous and rejected the move to ‘share’ monies meant to provide competitions for athletes. We wondered why Okowa could approve the Secretary General’s request before It was sent to board members.

‘We thought Okowa and Rita (Moshindi) got the message and that the N70,000,000 that accrued to the federation from the N100,000,000 yearly sponsorship fee was intact and would be used to sponsor some road running events before September 2023.

‘We were thus surprised to find out from the Secretary General that part of the Premium Bank Sponsorship money was used to pay for accommodation and visa fees for the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

‘She also told the audit committee in writing that N15,900,000 was also borrowed to finance the trip to Budapest,” Gadzama added

The African and Olympic Games gold medal winner reveals most of the board members do not believe the borrowing story, saying some members are coming up with a comprehensive report on how the Premium Trust Money was mismanaged and how a few members have used their official positions for personal gains.

‘We will release the AFN official list sent to the Hungarian embassy detailing how family members of a few AFN officials were listed for visa procurement under the tag, ‘accompany congress delegate’.  It is a real can of worms and we are determined to birth a new and responsible AFN where athletes and officials will be the main focus,’ said Gadzama.