Puma, the sportswear manufacturing giant, on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, officially terminated its sponsorship contract with the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN).
This development comes amidst embezzlement allegations trailing some officials of the sports body.
The German company disclosed this in a statement addressed to the Athletics Federation of Nigeria.
“We are referring to the Sponsoring & Licensing Agreement (the “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,” Peoples Gazatte quoted the statement to have read in part.
The cancellation follows the embarrassing scandal that has pitched the AFN officials against Nigeria’s ministry of Youth and Sports due to the $2.7 million kits sponsorship.
Former President of AFN Shehu Gusau had reportedly entered into the contract with Puma at Doha in 2019, a development that led to crisis in the AFN.
The Nigerian ministry of youth and sports development, Sunday Dare, prior to the commencement of the Tokyo Olympics, had said athletes will not use Puma kits at the Olympics as the ministry is not privy to the contract with Puma.
The Ministry accused Mr. Gusau and former technical director of AFN, Sunday Adeleye, of refusing to disclose the contractual agreement they signed with Puma on behalf of AFN.
