The President of the Nigeria Boxing Federation (NBF), Mr. Wale Edun, has publicly questioned the relationship between the federation and the purported “NBF Pro” project reportedly being promoted by Mr. Yakubu Imadu Omonlei and Azania Omo-Agege.
Edun, the former Finance and coordinating minister of the Nigerian Economy raised the issue on Saturday at exactly 2:54 p.m. in the APB Nigeria WhatsApp group, a platform comprising stakeholders in Nigerian boxing and administered by the Technical Director of the NBF, Mr. Babatunde Laguda.
In his message, the NBF president sought clarification on whether the proposed professional boxing arm had any official affiliation with the federation and the process through which it was established.
His statement read:
“Afternoon. What is NBF Pro’s relationship with NBF? If related, what procedure was used to arrive at these decisions, and who was informed? Rgds.”
As of the time of filing this report, none of the individuals reportedly championing the NBF Pro initiative had responded to Edun’s questions, despite being members of the same WhatsApp platform.
Reacting to the development, the Secretary of the Nigerian Boxing Board of Control (NBBofC), Remi Aboderin, commended the NBF president for breaking his silence on what he described as a lingering controversy that has unsettled the Nigerian boxing community over the past few months.
Aboderin urged Chief Edun to institute a formal investigation into the matter, saying the issue should be addressed promptly to prevent further confusion within the sport.
“With this development, it is quite obvious that the Vice President of the NBF, Yakubu Imadu Omonlei, and Azania Omo-Agege, who were behind this scheme, are pursuing a parallel professional boxing body to realize their ambition of controlling Nigerian boxing,” Aboderin alleged.
He further argued that the NBF, whose statutory responsibility is to oversee amateur boxing in Nigeria, should determine whether any official approval was granted for the proposed professional boxing initiative.
Commending Mr. Edun for this timely query, Aboderin added, “When an adult is in the house, the she-goat is not to suffer the pains of parturition on its tether.”
The controversy over the proposed NBF Pro project has continued to generate debate within Nigeria’s boxing fraternity. Recall that the Hon. Bukola Olopade, the Director-General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), had previously stated that the commission is not involved with the NBF Pro project and warned those promoting it to stop any actions that could harm the growth of boxing in Nigeria.
At the time of publication, Mr. Azania Omo-Agege and Mr. Yakubu Imadu Omonlei had not publicly responded to the issues raised by the NBF president or the comments made by the NBBofC secretary.
Packaged by Olanrewaju Agiri
