FECAFOOT Affair - Stand-off Triggers On

Federation maintains calendar, refuses re-run in 35 divisions as the electoral process resumes today.

The stand-off between FECAFOOT and the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education over elections in that federation is far from over. After the Minister gave the green light for the elections to continue, many thought the saga was over. However the affair took a new twist on April 12 when Minister Adoum Garoua again wrote to the president of FECAOOT, Iya Mohammed, calling for the re-run of elections in 35 divisions where elections had taken place before he gave his go ahead, taking into consideration the judgement of the Chamber of Arbitration and Conciliation of the National Olympic and Sports Committee concerning the problematic articles (4) of the FECAFOOT internal rules and regulations.

FECAFOOT replied on the same day saying the elections were regular and that there was no need to repeat it. According to the Communication Officer for FECAFOOT, Junior Binyam, the said judgement of the Olympic Committee was delivered on March 28th whereas the elections began on March 27, hence the law cannot be retroactive. More so, he said, FECAFOOT was only notified on April 11 and they have 20 days counting from this day, to appeal the decision at the International Tribunal for Sports Arbitration. So therefore the decision was not final and could not be applied immediately. As to why the elections were scheduled to resume on April 17, he said it was to respect the seven days delay in convening an elective assembly at the Divisional level.

Contacted on the issue, the Director of Norms and Monitoring of Sports Federations at the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education, Evele Malik, refused to comment on the issue. Meanwhile, according to the modified calendar, the elections today concern the 23 remaining divisions where the elections had not been held. The elections at the divisional level end on April 19th and will take place at the Regional level from April 22nd to April 29th beginning with the East, South, North, West, Centre, Adamawa, Far North, North West, South West and Littoral in that order.