The ongoing elections into the board of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) have continued to shock bookmakers with some of the candidates, hitherto, seen as sure bets are losing their zones to “less popular” candidates.

The first shock of the series happened in the South-South, where a former Delta State lawmaker, Itiako Ikpokpo, who recently convened the Niger Delta Sports Festival, lost to former sprinter, Gabriel Okon.

Yesterday, another surprising result came from the South-East zone, where the incumbent board member representing the zone, Victor Okorie, lost to Abia State Athletics Association chairman, Innocent Ugochukwu Iheme. Both Okorie and Iheme are from Abia State.

Reports said that the election held in Enugu created a tensed atmosphere when it became obvious that it would be a tight race. At the end, Iheme won by three votes to two.

Just like the United States-based former hurdler, Okorie, another AFN incumbent board member, Manta Muhammad Haruna, also lost out yesterday in the North Central Zone, losing 2-4 to Oluyemi Sule, a three-time Nigerian triple jump champion and African Games and African Championships medalist.

Like the Enugu polls, the first round of voting ended 3-3 prompting a second round where Sule won 4-2.

Iheme, a former Nigerian international, will now be the South-East representative on the AFN Board, replacing Okorie who was the Performance Director of the outgoing board.

In the four zonal elections concluded so far, three people said to be independent-minded have emerged board members, apparently signaling a new beginning for the AFN.

They are Lekan Soetan (South-West), Iheme and Sule.

The North-West election, which was held on Monday, was declared inconclusive as one of the candidates was alleged to have disrupted the proceedings when it became obvious that he was losing the polls.

The AFN is expected to rule on the North-West elections before the general elections slated for June 12 in Abuja.