The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development (FMY&SD) has issued a disclaimer on one Mr. S.Y. Pepple who has allegedly been parading himself as the Director General of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN).
A statement issued by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr. Gabriel Aduda, described the said Pepple as an impostor for parading himself as DG of the AFN, a nomenclature not recognised by the extant law setting up sports federations in Nigeria.
Mr. Pepple was appointed as Director General by the suspended President of AFN, Ibrahim Shehu Gusau to run his faction of the track and field body. Gusau also declared autonomy of the federation from the FMY&SD.
But to put the record straight, the ministry decided to issue a disclaimer on the so-called DG yesterday.
“This is to bring to the notice of the sporting public, MDAs and security agencies the impersonation of the office of the Secretary General of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) by one Mr. Pepple SY who claims to be its Director General .
“Nigeria has 38 national sporting federations under the supervision of the Ministry established under the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Each federation is run by its elected Board members in accordance with its constitution without interference from the Ministry. In each national sports federation, the President is the head of and presides over its meetings and oversees the implementation of the policies and the directive of the board,” observed the statement issued by the FMY&SD.
It further clarifies that the General Secretary is the chief administrative and chief accounting officer of the national sports federations.
“There is no nomenclature as the Director General of a national sports federation. Mr. Pepple SY who is laying fraudulent claim to the Director General of the AFN was never seconded to the Ministry as required by law.
“He has never worked in any sports federation nor seconded as Secretary General.
According to the national sports federation code of governance of 2017, Secretary General of the federations must be a civil servant and a graduate of Physical and Health Education, sports administrator or its equivalent before he/ she can be seconded by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development in accordance with the National Sports Federation code of governance 2017 and AFN constitution of 2017.
The Statement further said: “The sporting public, MDAs, the International federations and agencies and security agencies should note that Mr. Pepple SY is not the Secretary General of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria. Mr. Pepple SY is an impostor not known to the Ministry of Youth and Sports and by extension the Federal Government of Nigeria and the statutory extant law setting up the AFN.
“He is hereby declared persona non grata by the law setting up the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports,” the statement stressed.
It warned that: “anybody doing business with him on behalf of AFN does so at his or her own risk. We are putting the security agencies on notice and specifically requesting the Inspector General of Police to immediately invite the said Mr. Pepple for questioning without further delay.”
