Secretary General of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Mr Tunde Popoola, has been trapped in allegations of forgery. The petitioner, Mr Odoeme Aneh, has called for his criminal prosecution.
In a two-page petition addressed to the Chairman & members of the 2018 NOC electoral Committee, Aneh wrote: “my attention has been drawn to the ongoing submission and documentation by candidates vying for various positions of the Nigeria Olympic Committee especially for the candidate seeking election into the position of Secretary General.
While we observed that Mr Tunde Popoola is not a current board member of the Nigeria Hockey Federation, we also discovered the following irregularities in his submission/documentation.
1) That against the provisions of the electoral guidelines, the nomination of Mr Tunde Popoola was not signed by the Nigeria Hockey Federation President, Abdul Ningi;
2) That in Mr Tunde Popoola’s submission he did not provide a letter of introduction from the Nigeria Hockey Federation;
3) That Mr Tunde Popoola presented an unverifiable document which is suspected to be fictitious and forged as qualification for seeking for election into the office of the Secretary General of the Nigeria Olympic Committee;
4) That as a result of desperation for votes, he imposed on the Nigeria Olympians Association (NOA) a candidate that won the just concluded election conducted at the NOC Board room on the 27th November to bargain for votes for the NOC election slated for 20th December 2018 at Yola, Adamawa State.
5) We have written and will follow-up the case to a logical conclusion if Mr Tunde Popoola is not disqualified and prosecuted for the heinous crime against the Olympic family.
Mr Chairman, while reiterating the fact that we have absolute confidence in you and the other Honourable members of this committee, we indule you to treat this petition with all the attendant requirement and justice for posterity;
Meanwhile, we have attached herewith the nomination form and the purported appointment letter of Mr Tunde Popoola from African Hocket Federation for further scrutiny and subsequent prosecution by a competent court of Law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Prayers:
1) That Mr Tunde Popoola be disqualified from contesting the position of the Secretary General of the Nigeria Olympic Committee;
2) That the Nigeria Olympic Committee should prosecute Mr Tunde Popoola for forgery, deceit and obtaining by false pretense through which he contested and occupy the position of the Secretary General since 2010 to date;
3) That he must tender public apology and possibly pay damages if required to the Nigeria Olympic family.
The letter was copied to the President Nigeria Olympic Committee, the Minister and Permanent of Youth and Sports Development;
