By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
A total of seven para sports representatives from the North-West Zone have been elected into their federation’s board at the Media Center of Ahmadu Bello Stadium, (ABS) Kaduna.
The elections which were conducted on Tuesday, July 5, 2022, were peaceful with two out of the seven positions having more than one contestant vying, while five positions were returned unopposed.
Taking the stakeholders through the election guidelines, Representative of the Northwest Zonal Coordinator, Mr. Gideon Malo Mafwil, the ABS Stadium Manager.
Mr. Malo explained that for anyone to be eligible to contest “must have one form of disability and must have a minimum of Secondary School Certificate, WAEC”.
He said each will further undergo screening by the electoral panel and talk on their manifesto.
At the end of the elections, various representatives were returned elected to the boards of their respective federations.
In the wheelchair basketball sport, Lawal Sani Ado Kano was elected unopposed into the board of the federation with 7 votes out of seven, and in the Para powerlifting, Alhaji Ahmed Aminu Kano was also returned unopposed as representative of Northwest Zone in the federation with four votes while three states were absent.
From Kaduna, Abdullahi Abdulkadir Ashiru is now the zone’s representative on the board of Sitting Volleyball while Joshua Dauda Bongwom was elected into the Amputee Football board with a 4-3 slim victory over Umar Shekari from Kebbi State.
In another keen contest, former Kaduna State Swimming Coach, Usman Yahaya who made history as the oldest gold medalist from the maiden National Para Sports Festival in Abuja, about 4 months ago, defeated Abdullateef Raji Usman of Zamfara State in the para-swimming contest.
“It was an overwhelming victory and am delighted with 5 votes to nothing win,” Coach Usman said.
In Para Soccer, Abdullahi Umar Adoro from Katsina was re-elected into the board unopposed, while, Samaila Muhammad Gusau from Zamfara State will represent the Northwest zone in Para Athletics.
