A Federal Government investigative committee has found that the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) was responsible for Favour Ofili’s omission from the women’s 100-meter race at the Paris Olympics, citing the negligence of several officials.
Nigeria’s performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which took place from July 26 to August 11, was disappointing, with the country failing to win any medals. This setback was compounded by controversies, including Ofili’s exclusion from the 100m race and cyclist Ese Ukpeseraye’s revelation that she had to borrow a track bike from the German team to compete.
In its report, made available to the press on Monday, the committee, led by Chairman Mumini Alao, traced the omission of Ofili’s name to a series of failures by the AFN, Nigeria Olympic Committee, World Athletics, and the International Olympic Committee. The committee specifically criticized AFN Secretary General Rita Mosindi for her negligence in failing to relay timely and accurate information about Ofili’s event status to both the Ministry of Sports Development and the Nigeria Olympic Committee.
The committee also took aim at Samuel Onikeku, the AFN’s Technical Director, for his “poor judgment” in not acting upon an early warning about Ofili’s non-registration. The report suggested that the issue could have been resolved had Onikeku taken immediate action or reported the problem when it first arose.
As part of its recommendations, the committee called for disciplinary measures against the officials involved and proposed that the AFN compensate Ofili with N8 million for the emotional distress caused by her exclusion.
In a separate matter, the committee instructed Ese Ukpeseraye to issue a formal apology to the Nigerian Cycling Federation (NCF) and the Nigerian Olympic contingent for the embarrassment caused by her social media post. In the post, Ukpeseraye claimed she had to borrow a track bike from the German team to compete in her race.
“The cyclist, Ese Ukpeseraye, should write a formal apology to the Nigeria Cycling Federation (NCF) for the embarrassment caused to the Federation and the Nigerian contingent at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games due to her unauthorized post on X (formerly Twitter) about the bicycle she used,” the committee stated.
The investigative report was submitted to the now-defunct Ministry of Sports Development on October 22, just one day before the ministry was dissolved by President Tinubu and its responsibilities transferred to the newly established National Sports Commission, chaired by Shehu Dikko.
