Sports Minister Solomon Dalung,
The vice president of Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Olamide George has tagged Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, a ‘big tribalist,’ saying that ‘the man just wants to nail me at all cost.’
Olamide sees Dalung’s decision to set up another investigative committee on the doping allegations against him as a witch hunt.
The minister on Tuesday inaugurated a five-man committee to investigate George over a doping violation incident, which occurred at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India.
A similar panel set up by the sports minister, and headed by a top official of the sports ministry, Mrs. Tayo Oreweme to probe the alleged doping issue was said to have cleared George of any wrong doing a few weeks ago.
Speaking with The Guardian yesterday, George, a member of the Ondo State House of Assembly, described the move by Dalung as a calculated attempt to rubbish his image, adding that the sports minister lacked the procedural authority to set up a doping panel against any member in the athletics family.
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“It is crystal clear that Dalung just want to nail me at all cost,” George stated. “I want every right thinking Nigerian to ask Dalung what happened to the reports of two previous panels that were set up concerning this issue? He does not even have the locus standi to set up such panel because the world athletics governing body (IAAF) won’t recognize it.
“As we speak, I have not even seen a copy of their letter inviting me to appear before any panel. And I won’t even bother to appear because Dalung has concluded on what to do. I have established my case with the IAAF and the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS),” he stated.
George revealed that the athlete in question, Sade Abugan, left Ondo State Sports Council in 2006 before she failed a drug test in 2010. “Even as at the time Sade was under Ondo State Sports Council, I was not a staff of the Council.
Sade left in 2006 to run for the Civil Defence. So, you can see how Dalung and his hangers on in the ministry are trying to rope me into this dope issue.
It won’t work. Look at the committee Dalung set up to investigate the missing IAAF $150,000. Who are the members of the committee? Does Dalung even have the right to set up such a committee in the first place? The answer is no,” George stated.
Source: G Sport
