Controversy has continued to trail the recently concluded Arewa Radio 11km marathon held in December last year in Kano following an allegation by winners of the tournament that the organizers have refused to pay their prize money.
The trio of Emmanuel Gyang, Stephen Joshua, and Paul James won the race but they are now alleging that the organizers are not willing to pay the prize money of N500,000, N300,000, and N200,000 respectively for the winners.
An investigation by our correspondent revealed that immediately after the race, the organizers informed the participants that they could not pay them due to security problems but with a promise to do the needful the following week Monday which has not been done till now
The athletes further alleged that the organizers in a bid to short-change them have been coming out with one excuse or the other, noting that by their action they have breached the IAAF and AFN rules and regulations guiding marathon.
However, the coordinator of the race, Binta Fulani told our correspondent on the phone that the winners were not screened ahead of the race and the organizers were surprised how they got the bibs to participate in the event.
She further explained that it was discovered that Stephen Joseph ran the race with a bib belonging to another accredited athlete even as she stated that race was solely for Kano Youths and based on these facts, they were disqualified and prize money paid to the 4th, 5th and 6th place winners who met all the criteria for the marathon.
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The athletes representative, Izuchukwu Udegbunam of Bunubunu Culture and Sporting Company Limited noted that he’s surprised with the action of the organizers positing that the form the athletes filled and submitted did not indicate that the race is only for Kano youths.
He also insisted that his athletes were fully screened and cleared for the race.
Udegbunam explained that he has already submitted a petition to Kano State Sports Commission and waiting for their response before deciding on the next line of action.
