IOC nullifies NOC elections, new date for fresh poll

A new election, which will be supervised by a top official of the IOC, Mr Mustapha Berraf, will be held on Sept. 23 in Lagos. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Berraf is also the First Vice-President of Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA). The IOC in a letter dated Sept. […]

A new election, which will be supervised by a top official of the IOC, Mr Mustapha Berraf, will be held on Sept. 23 in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Berraf is also the First Vice-President of Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA).

The IOC in a letter dated Sept. 17 and sent to the President and Secretary-General of NOC, Habu Gumel and Olabanji Oladapo respectively, said that it “has just been advised about the organisation of a meeting on Sept. 16, 2010 in the absence of the

legitimate authorities of the NOC’’.

The IOC said it would not recognize the meeting and the election held during the session.

NAN learnt that Nigeria’s participation in major high profile Games, including next month’s Commonwealth Games in India, were under threat if the crisis remained unresolved.

The letter said: “The IOC and ANOCA do not and will not recognize the meeting held on Sept. 16, 2010 which was not called by the incumbent office bearers and was thus illegally constituted.

“Therefore, we consider the election held on Sept. 16 null and void.’’

The IOC said its decision was based on two fundamental issues bordering on the postponement of the Sept. 16 Elective General Assembly (EGA) was done correctly, following the advice of its legal department.

The letter said the IOC’s Legal Department had advised that no election should take place until the petition before the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) was known.

The IOC said the point was clearly stated in the IOC’s last letter to the NOC.

The IOC said that on the receipt of CAS decision, Oladapo immediately called for an EGA scheduled for Sept. 23.

The organization said “we will await the results from the legitimate EGA of NOC, which will hold on Sept. 23, in order to officially recognize the office bearers, who will be elected on that occasion.