By Francis Ajuonuma
Nigeria’s Azania Omo-Agege Siena has taken over as president of the African Boxing Confederation (AFBC) on an interim basis, pending the election of a new President.
Omo-Agege, who is also the vice-president of the Nigerian Boxing Federation was appointed to the position following the removal from office of the former president, 62-year-old Bertrand Mendouga only a year after being elected.
Mendouga, who had a long career in public finance, was forced to step down by the AFBC at a meeting of the continental governing body’s Executive Committee meeting in his country’s capital Yaoundé.
For stepping down Mendouga is also expected to lose his position on the Board of Directors at the International Boxing Association (IBA).
The decision to force Mendouga out followed tensions at the Cameroonian Boxing Federation (Fécaboxe) which had forced the postponement of the African Boxing Championships in Yaoundé.
The event finally started last month, four days later than the re-arranged date, and concluded on Sunday in front of IBA President Umar Kremlev.
But the Championships were overshadowed by several problems and Mendouga has faced repeated accusations of conflicts of interest.
Among the problems was a number of countries being eligible to compete, were unable to take part after buying airline tickets for the previous date of the Championships and losing the money when they were postponed, with Mendouga refusing to refund them.
Mendouga was elected in July 2022 at the AFBC Congress in Algiers to replace Morocco’s Mohamed Moustahsane, who had led the organisation since 2017, in an election also attended by Kremlev.
In the election, Mendouga had polled 21 of the 40 votes, with Algeria’s Ferhat Abdelnour-Fazil getting 10 and Uganda’s Moses Muhangi nine following a bitter campaign.
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Muhangi had accused Mendouga of ruling Fécaboxe with an “an iron fist” and claimed that he “is looking for a job but not to help boxing develop”.
It led to Muhangi receiving a warning from the IBA Ethics Commission.
In his election manifesto, Mendouga had promised “to create visibility and influence” and “make substantial reforms for the development of boxing in Africa”.
Kremlev had hailed Mendouga’s appointment by claiming: “AFBC is lucky to have such a well-qualified President to lead boxing throughout the continent.
“I am confident that President Mendouga and the new AFBC Board of Directors will move quickly to ensure that Africa boxers reach their full potential.”
But the problems over the organisation of the African Boxing Championships, including the financing of the event, had led Kremlev to lose confidence in Mendouga, leading to moves to unseat him.
The Cameroonian Government has also started investigating Fécaboxe and appointed a Normalization Committee.
An election to choose a permanent successor to Mendouga is due to be held next month.
Omo-Agege is expected to be a candidate following his appointment as Acting President.
He was appointed as a director of AFBC in July 2022 and promoted to vice-president in August.
