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.
“PUMA especially declares to be discharged from any or all obligations towards all stakeholders involved and reserves all rights against these entities and individuals”.
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.
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria under the leadership of Engr Ibrahim Gusau signed a 4-year contract with PUMA in 2019 and was due to expire in 2022.
Part of the contract is that PUMA will supply kits to all age categories to Nigeria’s Athletics team for four years at no cost.
In addition, gold medalists at the Olympic Games will earn $15,000, silver medalists will get 5,000 while a bronze medal gets $3,000, and also will fetch athletes wearing the PUMA apparel at the games. This means Ese Brume would have gotten an additional $3000 for winning bronze wearing PUMA kit if the deal was still on.
The termination of the deal comes amidst an alleged leadership tussle between the Ibrahim Gusau-led AFN board and that headed by the Minister for Youths and Sports, Sunday Dare.
The minister is said to have vowed that the Nigerian Athletes will not wear the PUMA kits, stating that the contract is “a subject of a criminal investigation”.
Last year, the Department of State Services cleared Gusau and his vice president Sunday Adeleye over corruption allegations leveled against him by the sports ministry.