Ernest Osogbue
One of Nigeria’s most decorated athletes, and a pillar of the CLIMM Foundation Southeast U-16 Track and Field Championship, Clement Chukwu, has accused the president of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, Tonobok Okowa, of covering up illegality, in the lead up to the forthcoming AFN elections.
Speaking exclusively with kjnnetwork.com from his US base, Clement Chukwu, who was a member of the Nigerian 4x400m quartet to clinch gold at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, said Tonobok Okowa and some members of the AFN board, were working to cover up the ineligibility of Mr. Victor Okorie to stand for election as the Southeast representative on the AFN board.
According to Chukwu, he had submitted a petition to back up his claim of Okorie’s ineligibility since May 2025, but rather than look into the petition, Okowa and others were seeking to sweep the matter under the rug, with a view to shielding Victor Okorie from accountability.
In documents sighted by kjnnetwork.com, Chukwu claims that Okorie was declared bankrupt by a court in the United States of America, and therefore was ineligible to be on the AFN board as clearly stated by Article 9, subsection 1.1.3 (a), of the AFN Constitution.
The article makes clear that anyone who has been declared bankrupt by any relevant authority or any order under insolvency laws would be ineligible to contest elections to the AFN board.
Chukwu told kjnnetwork.com that he was only doing his duty as a law-abiding citizen, in drawing the attention of the authorities to the matter. He maintained that despite his Olympic gold medal for Nigeria, he discovered that he was also not eligible to be on the AFN board, as a result of a previous doping violation when he was a young athlete and was misguided. Since that time, according to him, he has vowed to do everything in his life by the books. This resolve has gone ahead to help him achieve so much for himself and Nigeria in athletics.
He therefore saw no reason why Victor Okorie should be on the AFN board against the provisions of the rules. He called the attempted cover-up by senior members of the AFN board a coup against the AFN. Chukwu said he was willing to fight to the end to ensure that the AFN is cleansed of any fraudulent activity or illegality.
Kjnnetwork.com can confirm the sighting of Mr. Chukwu’s petition to the AFN president Tonobok Okowa. Also sighted are documents from a US Bankruptcy Court in the MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE (NASHVILLE), with No 3:20-bk-03450, made out against Victor Okorie as debtor.
It remains to be seen what action the AFN would take after Chukwu’s petition, as well as the reaction of the National Sports Commission, under whose guidance the AFN derives its relevance.
One of the challenges which bedeviled sports in Nigeria leading to the collapse of the Ministry of Sports and the coming on board of the NSC, as led by Mallam Shehu Dikko, was the failure to adhere to laid down rules and procedures. It is hoped that if and when the veracity of Mr. Chukwu’s petition is proven, the right and proper action would be taken by the authorities to ensure that Nigerian sports, albeit, athletics is cleansed of illegality.
