Azania Omo-Agege has taken over as the President of the Nigeria Boxing Federation following the suspension of former president, Kenneth Minimah, by the International Boxing Association, Sunday PUNCH reports.
The decision by IBA comes in the wake of allegations against Minimah, including breaches of Article 5.2 of the IBA Membership Policy, Article 11.1(h) of the IBA Constitution, Article 15 (Violation of Constitution and Regulations), Article 20 (Disparagement of IBA’s Reputation and Interests), Article 41 (Participation in other international boxing associations or organizations), and Article 46 (Abuse of Position) of the IBA Disciplinary and Ethics Code.
The complaint filed by IBA highlighted Minimah’s alleged role in leading the NBF to affiliate with another international boxing organisation, breaching the IBA Constitution, Membership Policy, and Disciplinary and Ethics Code.
In response to these allegations, the Boxing Independent Integrity Unit’s Tribunal, under the chairmanship of Malek Badri, opened disciplinary proceedings against Minimah on November 2nd 2023. The former president was given five days to respond to the allegations; however, no response was submitted within the specified timeframe.
As a result, the Tribunal has provisionally suspended Minimah from all boxing activities for a period of 90 days.
“The Accused Party (Minimah) is provisionally suspended from all boxing activities, in any capacity, including Official Competition Official, for the duration of ninety (90) days,” the statement from the IBA read in part.
In the interim, Omo-Agege, has assumed the responsibilities of the presidency.
Reacting to the developments, Omo-Agege told Sunday PUNCH, “He didn’t call for a board meeting before attempting to move the NBF to the new organisation. No one was informed and he attempted to do all this singlehandedly and when I found out, I disputed it saying it cannot be done that way.
“I am happy to takeover in the interim and I am sure everything will run smoothly now. Most of our referees and officials are cetified under the IBA so we cannot be changing bodies that way.”
