The Athletics Federation of Nigeria has blamed Nigeria’s Sports Minister, Sunday Dare for the termination of the $2.7 million sponsorship deal with Puma.
The Federation claim the German kit company sent Olympics kits to Tokyo for the athletes, but the minister intervened through the Nigerian Embassy in Japan stopping them from sending the kits to the athletes.
This was disclosed in a statement by the AFN on Wednesday evening after news of the Puma contract termination went live.
What the AFN said
“The Athletics Federation of Nigeria under the leadership of Engr Ibrahim Gusau signed a 4-year contract with PUMA in 2019 and was due to expire in 2022. Part of the contract is that PUMA will supply apparel of all age categories to Nigeria’s Athletics team for four years at no cost.
“In addition, gold medalists at the Olympic Games will earn $15,000, silver medalists will get 5,000 while a bronze medal will fetch athletes wearing the PUMA apparel at the games $3000.
“The Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare had vowed in a statement that Nigerian Athletics athletes to the Games will not wear PUMA because of a leadership tussle between the Ibrahim Gusau led AFN board and the one being championed by the minister,” the AFN said.
The AFN further stated that it made efforts to get the Puma kits to the athletes including shipping bags of kits with 40 items each to Tokyo through the Nigerian Embassy in Japan, but the minister wrote to the ambassador blocking the kits from getting to the athletes.
The AFN also revealed that a DSS investigation conducted in 2020, cleared the AFN boss, Ibrahim Gusau of receiving money meant for the AFN.
In case you missed it
Nairametrics reported earlier that Puma terminated its 4-year $2.7 million deal with Nigeria over a kitting controversy for the Tokyo Olympics.
“As a direct consequence of the recent developments, particularly at the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 and pursuant to Clauses 9.2 and 7.3 of the Agreement, we hereby terminate the Agreement with immediate effect,” Puma said in a statement.
