Anxiety grips candidates as appeals committee presents verdicts today

We have done a thorough job, says Zira
Anxiety has gripped most of the candidates that protested the conduct and outcome of the June 13 federations’ elections in Abuja, as the appeals committee set up by the sports ministry to look into their cases release its findings today.

The elections were allegedly marred by irregularities, prompting a total of 20 petitions from aggrieved members in 11 sports federations, with the highest number of six lodged by candidates who contested various positions on the board of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN).

The Guardian learnt that some of the ‘protesting candidates’ shifted base to Abuja yesterday waiting anxiously for the outcome of the appeals committee headed by Abdulrazak Salau.

One of the candidates, who spoke with The Guardian yesterday, declared he would not take any ‘rubbish’ from the appeals committee. “If it means going a step further to get justice, I will have to do so because from what I have heard, a lot of manipulations have taken place at the committee,” he said.

However, a member of the appeals committee, Emmanuel Zira has assured the protesting candidates of that they have done what he described as ‘satisfactory work.’ The committee is expected to submit its report today in Abuja with a press conference to tell the world how they arrived at certain decisions.

Zira said: “We will use the press conference to tell Nigerians how we reached certain decisions. The sports minister told us to do a thorough job and that is what we have done. He told us that he does not have special interest in anybody, and he has no favorite candidate for the election.”

As at the time of this report yesterday, the appeals committee members were still brainstorming in Abuja in readiness for the task ahead of them.