Nigeria: Sports Minister Gives Updates On Ofili’s 100m Race Exclusion
Nigeria’s sports minister, John Enoh has provided a fresh update regarding Nigerian sprinter, Favour Ofili’s 100m race ban at the ongoing 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Enoh also asked four questions that must be answered on why Offili’s name was dropped from participating in the Women’s 100m race.
Ofili had earlier this week disclosed she will not take part in the 100m race at the Olympics.
The 21-year-old explained that the reason was because of administrative failures by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, and the Nigerian Olympic Committee, NOC.
Upon hearing her distress, Enoh said he had reached out to the AFN and the NOC to find out the root cause of the matter.
However, Enoh has now provided an update on the issue in a statement he personally signed on Friday.
He said “The 100m race got off to a start today sadly without Favor Ofili. I was on the matter until early hours of today, with the hope of giving Nigerians something to be happy about.
“From the moment I stated my position on this, officials of the NOC haven’t slept, they have been on their toes.
“The NOC President, Engr Habu Gumel and his team kept vigil, traversing between the Director of Competition, the Technical Committee and the World Athletics.
“I have been duly informed that some other countries have similar issues, and these aforementioned bodies do not want to open a floodgate that would become difficult to manage. Howbeit, I am not concerned about other countries.
“My interest is with my own country Nigeria and who is responsible for the non-listing of Favor Ofili.
“Furthermore, I have been briefed that World Athletics submitted, that when the final list was published in July by it, AFN should have called its attention to the omission of Favor Ofili’s name. This still doesn’t address the issue. At what point did her name drop out of the 100m race?
“Who’s responsible for this? What’s the motivation behind this?
“What’s the trail of communication from AFN to NOC and to IOC and/or World Athletics?
“All these are questions that must be answered immediately after the Olympics.
“For now, I appeal to Favor Ofili to refuse to allow this to distract her concentration in the remaining races for which she has been listed (I’m in touch with her on this).
“And for the rest of Team Nigeria, particularly the athletics team, let them stay motivated to win.”
