The Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) and the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) may be held accountable for omitting Favour Ofili's name from the list of Team Nigeria athletes set to compete in the women's 100m race at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Ofili was supposed to compete in both the 100m and 200m events in Paris, but the 21-year-old announced late Tuesday night that she was not registered with World Athletics for the 100m, so 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!”
The responsibility of presenting Team Nigeria athletes to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) via World Athletics normally falls on the National Olympic Committee (NOC). However, there seems to be confusion regarding how Favour Ofili was denied a spot in the 100m race, which has disappointed the Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh.
Senator Enoh explained in a lengthy post shared by his media team that he had communicated with both the NOC and the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), as well as directly with Ofili, in an attempt to understand how the athlete was denied the opportunity to compete for a medal.
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.