Duro Ikhazuagbe 

Ahead of Saturday’s Gymnastics Federation of Nigeria (GFN) election in Abuja, stakeholders in the sports have rejected calls for contestants to step down, insisting that all aspirants should be allowed to go and exercise their rights at the polls.

Incumbent President of the federation, Kelvin Erhunmwunse, has been challenged by a member of the immediate past board, Hajia Kafilat Omowunmi Olalere.

There have been speculations that the National Sports Commission (NSC) has  waded into the matter by asking Hajia Olalere to step down and be compensated with the position of Vice-president.

But speaking in Lagos yesterday, Hajia Olalere insisted that the South-West zone that she’s representing on the Gymnastics board have insisted that there is no going back on the presidency.

 “When the NSC told me to step down for the incumbent President (Erhunmwunse), I went back to my constituencies and the various interest groups to brief them of the development and they were emphatic that the federation needs a new direction.

 “It is not about me because I could have easily accepted the position, but what happens to those seeking to become zonal representatives through the elections?” observed the influential gymnastics member.

She described the election that Erhunmwunse arranged before this new Saturday date as sham that disenfranchised most people intending to come on the new board.

“The elections they purportedly held disenfranchised many people, but thankfully, we have a listening leadership in the National Sports Commission that issued a press statement cancelling it and then stating that the real elections would hold on October 18. But due to some other reasons, it was now moved to October 25.”

Hajia Olalere was emphatic that stakeholders from the South West, South South, South East and North Central have been looking at ways to reform the sport, which involves children and their parents.

 She is pained that several gymnastics have been forced to move into other things for survival because the sport no longer meets their expectations.

Another stakeholder, Ben Alonge, who is a former technical director of the federation corroborated Hajia Olalere on the level of stagnation that has enveloped the sport under Erhunmwunse’s leadership

  “Our president was chosen to lead us by the Solomon Dalung administration without proper election. We protested, but nobody listened to us. Dalung’s successor as Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, also did not conduct a proper election and so the president retained his position. Now, we want a change.”

Alonge therefore called on the NSC to give a level playing ground for all stakeholders interested in vying for positions in gymnastics federation election.

“If the sports most grow, we  need the best hands to develop gymnastics as an international sport,” he concluded.