Olympics: AFN, NOC under fire over Ofili’s 100m omission
The Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) and the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) may have a case to answer in the omission of Favour Ofili’s name from the list of Team Nigeria athletes who are to compete in the blue-ribbon women’s 100m race of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Ofili was originally listed to compete in both the 100m and the 200m events in Paris but the 21-year-old went to town late Tuesday night that she was not registered with World Athletics for the 100m hence she would only compete in the 200m.
“I qualified, but those with the AFN and NOC failed to register me,” she said. “If those responsible are not held accountable for taking this opportunity from me, neither organisation can ever be trusted in the future!”
Normally, it’s the responsibility of the NOC to present Team Nigeria athletes to the International Olympic Committee(IOC) vis-à-vis World Athletics but there seems to be confusion on how Ofili was denied a spot for the 100m race to the chagrin of the Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh.
Senator Enoh explained in a long post shared by his media team, that he had interfaced with both the NOC and AFN as well as Ofili to unravel how the athlete was denied the opportunity to compete for a medal.
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The minister stated inter alia: “As Minister of Sports, I will not tolerate this utter recklessness. It is highly inexcusable, and there will be thorough sanctions after investigations into where and from whom this gross negligence originated. All parties must take their duties very seriously. “
The current way of operating the Federal Ministry of Sports Development does not allow for incompetence at any level.”
The AFN through its Technical Director, Samuel Onikeku issued a statement absolving itself of any culpability in the matter a NOC insider called ‘AFN with her peculiar problem’.
“We registered Ofili for the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay. We don’t know how her name got missing in the 100m. This is our stand as a federation,” AFN Technical Director, Onikeku, said in a message to AFN Media.
But an official of the NOC who spoke in confidence, said in as much as the body was not ready to ‘wash the AFN dirty linen’ in the public, he affirmed that the NOC has no power to have dropped Ofili from the entries for the 100m race.
“ We have seen through the shenanigans of the AFN and of course, we have seen the purported general list they have paraded in the media justifying the claim that Ofili was duly registered for both the 100m and 200m races,” the official said .“ But if you can reach out to Onikeku, ask him to produce the shortlist of athletes for individual events the AFN submitted?
“ Are they saying the NOC President is technically schooled enough to determine which of the races Ofili had a comparative advantage as she bids for a medal in Paris? The NOC will speak on this issue at the right time,” he added.
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