Olympics: Shehu Sani Laments Rejection Of Free $2.7m PUMA Kits

Former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani has lamented the rejection of free $2.7m PUMA kits by officials of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.

Naija News reports that the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) led by its president, Shehu Gusau had entered the $2.76m deal with the German sporting wear company on July 24, 2019, in Doha.

This controversial contract led to the crisis rocking the AFN, which had split the athletics body into two factions, with both Gusau accused of sidelining other members of the board during the signing of the deal.

The sports ministry insisted that Team Nigeria athletes were not going to use Puma kits at the ongoing Olympic Games despite the Gusau group sending them to Tokyo.

The ministry’s decision led to the members of the Team Nigeria contingent in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games wearing different attires during the opening ceremony of the event.

The rejection of the kits also led to Nigeria’s shot put medal hopeful, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, washing his jersey ahead of his final game at the Olympics.

Reacting, in a letter dated August 4, which was signed by its Director, Manuel Edlheimb, PUMA announced the termination of their kits contract with the AFN.

The company blamed the termination on the failure of Nigerian athletes to wear the kits in line with the provisions of the contract.

But in a tweet via his Twitter handle, Senator Sani blamed officials of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development for the embarrassment faced by Nigeria’s athletes at the ongoing event.

He said: “PUMA donated these $2.7 million kits freely to Nigeria and offered to financially reward our medal-winning athletes. Our officials rejected them and preferred to use public funds to purchase from other sources. Now our Athletes are embarrassed in Tokyo.”