Puma, the German multinational corporation that designs and manufactures athletic and casual footwear, has suddenly terminated their sponsorship contract with the Athletic Federation of Nigeria, on Wednesday
The company had written officially and stated their reasons in a widely circulated letter. Part of the letter reads;
“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”
According to the Punch, the AFN under the leadership of Ibrahim Gusau had entered into a controversial $2.76m deal with Puma on July 24, 2019, in Doha.
The deal led to a major crisis that split the athletics body into two factions, with both Gusau and Adeleye accused of sidelining other members of the board during the signing of the deal.
The deal, signed by Gusau-led AFN was due to expire in 2022.
Part of the contract is that PUMA will supply apparel to all age categories to Nigeria’s Athletics team for four years at no cost.
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.
Before the commencement of the Tokyo Olympics, the Nigerian ministry of youth and sports development 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.