Caf general secretary facing new bullying and harassment allegations

The Confederation of African football’s former chief operating officer has accused its general secretary of “mismanagement and maladministration”, including claims that Véron Mosengo-Omba bullied and harassed her in an attempt to make her step down.

In a damning report that has been seen by the Guardian, Abiola Ijasanmi - who became the first woman to hold the senior Caf post when she was appointed in May 2022 - also claimed that Mosengo-Omba “increasingly exhibits an authoritarian leadership style” and presided over an organisation that “suffers from a significant lack of transparency in its operations”.

Earlier this month, Caf opened an investigation into allegations of serious misconduct by Mosengo-Omba after it received a report from its head of governance, risk and compliance (GRC). It accused the general secretary of having “impeded” members of the GRC department from performing their duties and claimed that there is a “stressful, unethical and unprofessional environment within the Caf administration”.

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The new report by Ijasanmi- who left her post in April of this year - is understood to have been sent to the Caf president, Patrice Motsepe, and members of its executive committee on the same day that Caf had announced it would be investigating the allegations against Mosengo-Omba, He has previously insisted that he would be exonerated, writing in statement on X that “the planned independent investigation will expose the falsity & origin of this report”.

In her report, Ijasanmi outlines what she says are four “critical areas of concern” - an unsafe and unhealthy work environment, ineffectiveness of the Human Resources department, poor governance practices and “misuse of power and favouritism by the general secretary”. “These issues collectively contributed to a dysfunctional organisation that fell short of the standards expected of a modern, international entity,” she wrote.

Ijasanmi – a former agent who was responsible for spearheading Caf’s operational governance reforms process in her role as COO – goes on to outline the circumstances behind her departure: “I believe my termination was a direct consequence of my repeated reports of administrative mismanagement and ongoing inadequacies, which the general secretary found unfavourable. Over the last 8-10 months of my employment, I was subjected to bullying and harassment by the general secretary to force my resignation. When these efforts failed, a restructure was used as a pretext for my termination.”

Mosengo-Omba is accused of creating a “toxic work culture” and “numerous allegations of nepotism and favouritism” in appointing members of staff. Ijasanmi also alleges that he permitted the mismanagement of Fifa Forward funding earmarked for development.

Ijasanmi has called for a comprehensive review of the Fifa Forward funds allocation process to be conducted, “ensuring alignment with the Caf strategy and equitable distribution of funds across all initiatives”. She also says that Caf staff have been forced to work in an “unsafe and unhealthy work environment”, with reports from staff that indicated instances of bullying and other grievances remaining unaddressed by management. The report says “staff frequently suffered from poor mental health and exhaustion, often avoiding the office between competitions”.

Mosengo-Omba did not respond to a request for comment from the Guardian. A Caf spokesperson said:”As you are aware, Caf has requested its audit and governance committee to investigate allegations of breach of its internal governance and auditing regulations within the Caf secretariat. Executive committee resolved to initiate an investigation on all matters raised in the report. Caf is awaiting the findings of this independent investigation.”