Investigation by judoblitzng.com yesterday revealed that in the records of the IJF, Mr. Isa Matori is still the President of the federation. Matori interestingly lost out in the democratic process that enthroned the present board. The new president of the board which was inaugurated on May 17 by the Minister of Sports MallamBolajiAbdullahi in Abuja is Prince Timothy Nsirim.
Other members of the old guard whose names are still in the IJF records include, former secretary Mr.YemiUsikaye, former Coaching and Education Director Major Gen. BalaSandaUsara (rtd),former Ref Director, Mr. Alfred Desouza. The Sports Director in the last board Mallam Mohammed AbdullahiAliyu was the only one who survived the democratic process that swept away the others.
The new leadership of the NJF is president Prince Timothy Nsirim, Coaching and Education committee chairman Dr.Oshodi Musa, the Ref. Director Mrs.Dooter Grace Gom, interim General Secretary ,AlhajiDamisaSulaiman and Sports Director Mallam Mohammed AbdullahiAliyu.
Reacting to the development, the vice president of the federation who doubles as chairman of the Coaching and Education committee, Dr.Oshodi Musa said all the paper work and communication with the world body should be completed soon.
“We will conclude all the procedure as soon as possible” he told our correspondent in a telephone interview. A cross section of judokas who reacted to the development were angry that the change of guards at the federation had not been communicated to the world body four months after.
“This is not fair at all. The International Judo Federation should have been informed immediately after the new board was inaugurated in May. This delay is really annoying” a judoka who did not want to be named told judoblitzng.com.