LAWYERS have a way of dismissing issues that are inconsequential and of no significant purpose. They call it an academic exercise designed to fulfill all righteousness. Judges would know right from the onset that nothing good would come from the issues raised by either the plaintiff or the defendants but would give room for both sides to sort it out.The former Minister of Sports of the defunct Ministry of Sports, John Eno sets up a panel to look at precisely the issue of Favour Ofili who was not registered for the 100 meters and the Basketball team who were not allowed to board the boat for the opening ceremony. Less I forget, he did ask them to find out why a bicycle was not provided for an athlete as if he provided funds for that purpose.
When the panel was set up, I accused the then Minister of living in a world of illusion and warned that nothing good would come out of it.
Last week, the panel headed by Mumini Alao released their findings amidst condenmination from key stakeholders.
For point of emphasis, I have the key areas of the report unedited here with my observations.
- Conflicting evidences showed that the Nigerian athlete, Favour Ofili’s omission from the women’s 100 meters’ event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is traceable to any one of the following organizations:
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), World Athletics (WA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). 2. Conclusive evidence revealed, however, that the Secretary General of the AFN, Mrs. Rita Mosindi, was NEGLIGENT in her duty of communicating to the Ministry of Sports Development and the Nigeria Olympic Committee information about Favour Ofili’s event status in a reliable and timely manner. Mrs. Mosindi should be PENALIZED by the appropriate authority. 3. Conclusive evidence also revealed that the Technical Director of AFN, Mr. Samuel Onikeku demonstrated POOR JUDGEMENT by not reporting nor acting on information about the non-registration of his own athlete, Favour Ofili, for the women’s 100 meters’ event when he first got a “hint” of the “rumour.” Ofili’s situation might have been rescued if the Technical Director had reported or acted immediately on the information that he received. Mr. Onikeku should be SANCTIONED by the Board of AFN of which he is a member. 4. The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) by vicarious implication should pay the athlete, Favour Ofili, a symbolic compensation of N8million Naira only (about $5,000 US Dollars) for the disappointment and depression that she suffered on account of her omission from the women’s 100 meters event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
5 The athlete, Favour Ofili, should take an introspective look at her general ATTITUDE to improve her relationships with co-athletes and officials. 6..The Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) and the Ministry of Sports Development should jointly develop a written CODE OF GOVERNANCE to improve synergy of operations and close the communication gaps between both organizations. 7.. The Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) should be more transparent in its relationship with the Ministry of Sports Development. Had the NOC been more open, its legally-binding kitting contract with an American sportswear manufacturer, Actively Black Company, would not have suffered any risk of breach and caused any controversy or embarrassment to Nigeria at the Paris 2024 Olympics. . 8..The cyclist, Ese Ukpeseraye, should write a FORMAL APOLOGY to the Nigeria Cycling Federation (NCF) for the embarrassment that she caused the Federation and the Nigerian contingent to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on account of the unauthorized post that she made on social media X (Formerly Twitter) about the bicycle that she used for the Cycling track event at the Olympics. . 9.. The Minister of Sports Development, even with the best intentions of defending and protecting the image and integrity of the country, should restrain from addressing the media on issues affecting individual athletes and leave that to the Sports Federations. Athletes must be held accountable by Sports Federations while the Federations must be held accountable by the Minister of Sports Development. 10.. Every Sport Federation should aspire to set up an Anti-Doping Commission in order to improve doping control amongst their athletes. They should follow the good example of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria.
My observations. Thank God, the Ministry of Sports has been scrapped and it is my opinion that the new Sports Commission Chairman, Shehu Dikko should not waste his time dwelling on this report.
First, it lacks legal backing and cannot be binding on anyone except it is adopted. To the best of my knowledge nobody has adopted it for instead of the committee to lay the whole blame on the former Minister, it did nothing of such and went outside their terms of reference to impose sanctions and penalties. The Committee lacks the power to impose any fine on any Federation and where did they expect AFN to get money when they battle to survive. Why did they overlook the Minister who embarked on payment of allowances in the middle of a tournament which caused rancour among the athletes?
The panel avoided the real issue of why we failed to win a medal and also failed to recommend what should be done in the neatest future. The truth is, the report is an academic exercise and should be thrown into the dustbin as there are too many contradictions and poor judgement.
