Nigerian athlete Favour Ofili has again expressed her disappointment and frustration at being excluded from the 100m women’s event at the Paris Olympic Games despite qualifying and preparing for the competition.
Only Rosemary Chukwuma and Tima Godbless represented Nigeria in the event on Friday.
Ofili’s exclusion stems from a registration controversy, which prompted Sports Minister John Owan Enoh to threaten sanctions against erring officials.
However, Ofili lamented that “nothing has been done”, and no one has been held accountable.
“Sadly, nothing has been done…. I’m yet to see or hear anyone is being punished for what the NOC and AFN did to me,” Ofili wrote on her X page on Friday. “Athletes shouldn’t be getting punished for things out of their control.”
Ofili questioned who should hold the negligent officials accountable: “Who assigned federations and/or Olympic committees to enter athletes into Olympic Games? Is it World Athletics? Should they not hold them accountable when they fail to do their job?”
She concluded: “NOC and AFN………. This is not the first time you guys are doing this, so don’t think this is over because it’s not.”
Minister’s threat
Earlier, the Sports Minister expressed his disappointment and frustration with the Athletic Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), stating: “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.”
The outcome of the Minister’s promised investigation and sanctions remains to be seen.
Denied to make her debut at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, Ofili has been very unlucky with negligent Nigerian officials.
Though she is registered for the 200m and 4X100m relays event in Paris, many fear Ofili may not be mentally stable enough to properly challenge for medals.
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