IBA KNOCKS OUT AFBC PRESIDENT EYASSU AND HIS ENTIRE BOARD
▪️ Normalisation Committee appointed to take charge of boxing in Africa
▪️ Defiant Eyassu and his BoD reject Normalisation Committee, and threatened to seek legal redress at the Court of Arbitration for Sport
The hammer has finally landed on the Africa Boxing Confederation (AFBC) President Eyassu Berhanu and his Board of Directors.
International Boxing Association (IBA) today (May 26) said in a statement on their website they have launched a Normalisation Committee to manage and streamline the operations of the beleaguered African body which the statement said had lost direction by engaging in unnecessary power struggle at the expense of development.
The creation of the Normalisation Committee in essence means that the underperfoming AFBC President Eyassu Berhanu and his loyal Board of Directors have been relieved of their responsibilities.
“The IBA Board of Directors has invoked Article 14.5 of the IBA Constitution to establish a Normalisation Committee tasked with the immediate intervention to stabilize AFBC,” said the statement, clarifying the committee is composed of two IBA Directors, one IBA Vice-President, four key African boxing stakeholders and supported by IBA Secretary General and CEO. The Normalisation Committee will temporarily oversee all AFBC operations.
The statement noted with concern the big division of AFBC with two leaders, the IBA-recognised Eyassu Berhanu and the other faction headed by General Ilunga Luyoyo.
IBA’s spirited efforts to reconcile the two warring factions have been unsuccessful, noted the statement and therefore they eventually decided to create the Normalisation Committee.
Elaborating further on the role of the Normalisation Committee, the statement said:”Its primary mandate includes addressing governance issues, managing AFBC’s daily affairs and organising legimate congress to elect and form a new leadership aligned with the core values of IBA.
“All decisions taken by the NC will be binding for AFBC, its governing bodies and affiliated National Federations.
In a rejoinder, Eyassu and his seven-member Board of Directors have rejected the formation of the Normalisation Committee, and threatened to seek legal redress at the Court of Arbitration for Sport based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
In a lengthy letter to IBA President Umar Kremlev, dated May 24, they unanimously objected to the creation of the Normalisation Committee but did not state under what clause of the Constitution they were opposing the NC.
The letter is signed by President Eyassu Berhanu, Vice President Alpha Amadou Balde and Board of Directors Siyabulela Mukwalo, Irene Ntelemo, Awil Gele Ahmed, Webster Lukhele, Azania Omo Agege, Abdou Issoufou and Lukello Willilo who was previously in Luyoyo’s faction but has now joined Eyassu’s KO’d team.
They said that dissolving AFBC Board via the Normalisation Committee is viewed as a broader pattern of governance issues within IBA urging the international body to respect the autonomy of AFBC.
“Under IBA we have witnessed a drift away from the focus on amateur boxing development accompanied by unilateral decisions without proper consultation,” said the letter accusing the IBA of financial favouritism and discriminative treatment of AFBC compared to other Confederations.
The IBA had yet to respond to the letter by Eyassu’s team by the time we were publishing.
Commenting on Willilo’s unexpected defection to Berhanu’s team, the Secretary General of Senegal Boxing Federation and board member in Luyoyo’s team, Anta Gueye, said: Boxing is full of mercenaries who sell themselves out. It’s a real shame. Some of them have no dignity. Even if the field were full and numbered 12, everything falls apart. Most of them are in boxing just to make some money but don’t have the sport at heart other exhibiting their cheapness and are not different from prostitutes.”
This the first time the AFBC executive has been dissolved since the formation of the African boxing body in 1960.
IBA’s decision is viewed by boxing analysts as a stabbing shock in the back to Berhanu whose image is now in tatters, and it’s definite he has now been consigned to the dustbin of history in African boxing. His attempt to go to court, ring insiders argue, is a face-saving measure and that his fate with his henchmen has been sealed.
