Nigeria’s Minister of Sport, Sunday Dare, has been blamed for the termination of a four-year kit deal between the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and German sportswear manufacturing giants PUMA.
PUMA put an end to the contract following the failure of Nigerian athletes to wear their produced kit in the on going 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
In a letter dated Wednesday, August 4, and signed by the company’s director Manuel Edlheimb, PUMA said it was officially notifying the AFN of its termination of sponsoring and Licensing Agreement.
“We are referring to the licensing and sponsoring agreement signed between our company and your federation.
“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 especially declares to be discharged from any or all obligations towards all stakeholders involved and reserves all rights against these entities and individuals”.
According to reports, the athletes not being able to access the PUMA kit is part of Dare’s efforts at frustrating the Ibrahim Gusau-led AFN board.
There had been a tussle between the board headed by Gusau and that led by the candidate of the minister.
The minister is said to have vowed that the Nigerian Athletes will not wear the PUMA kits, stating that the contract is “a subject of a criminal investigation”.
Interestingly, his position comes after the Department of State Services (DSS) cleared Gusau and his vice president Sunday Adeleye over corruption allegations levelled against him by the sports ministry.
The AFN under the leadership of 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 kits to 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.
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