By Mustapha Salisu
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has debunked rumours making rounds of track and field competition purportedly organized by the body and scheduled to hold between March 17 and 18 at the Ahmadu Bello University sports ground, Zaria, Kaduna State.
Rita Mosindi, Secretary General of AFN, expressed his disappointment and took particular offence in the use of its logo and that of its parent body, World Athletics, in publicizing the said athletics competition.
The statement released by AFN on Monday in Abuja read as thus;
“It has come to the notice of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) that some unknown persons have been advertising the Zaria Athletics Grand Prix, which has been scheduled to hold at the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria. The unknown persons did not only use the logo of the Federation in the advert, but also included the World Athletics logo in the advert to validate the authenticity of the event,”
“We want to use this medium to state that AFN, as the sole regulatory body for athletics activities in Nigeria, is not aware of any athletics competition in Zaria nor approved any Grand Prix for any one in Zaria, neither has the organiser of the so-called Zaria Grand Prix approached the AFN for permission to use the AFN or World Athletics logo.
“We hereby make it known to all athletes that intend to participate in the competition not to be deceived by the logos as a sign of approval from AFN. We also use this opportunity to inform all that, henceforth, any competition that did not follow due process will no longer count nor be used as a selection criterion for any international events by AFN as embedded in the selection rules.”
The AFN notified aspiring competition organisers to employ all necessary protocols before holding any athletics competition to achieve the desired mutual purpose of developing the sport in Nigeria.
