SportsNow: How AFN used nepotism and lies to deny Seye Ogunlewe his rightful place in Nigeria’s Paris 2024 Olympics team
It is no longer news that sprinter, Seye Ogunlewe will not be going to the Olympics after the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, did not include his name in its 35 man list for the greatest sporting fiesta on planet earth.
What is however new is the lie the Federation told Nigerians, especially John Owan Enoh, the Minister of Sports Development about the true status of the 32 year old who has become one of the most consistent Nigerian sprinters in the last 14 months.
Ogunlewe participated in the Nigerian Olympic Trials held last month in the ancient city of Benin, capital of Edo state.
Son of a former Minister and Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a proud Lagosian, Ogunlewe fulfilled all the conditions set out by the AFN for selection for the Games.
Prior to the championships, the AFN spelt out selection criteria to chairmen/directors, states athletics associations, military/para-military organizations, all institutions and athletics clubs and, especially, participating athletes for the Olympic Games on May 23, 2024 with competing at the trials a key condition.
The AFN also insisted athletes who have not done the mandatory three out of competition doping tests will not be considered albeit it is the responsibility of the federation to test the athletes.
‘All athletes are advised to participate at the trials to be eligible for selection for the African Senior Athletics Championships, Olympic Games and World U-20 Championships, regardless of their qualification status,’ wrote the AFN in the letter.
The federation also wrote that ‘only athletes with the 3 Out of Competition Test will be eligible for selection after the trials.’
The two conditions were predicated on the fact that athletes meet World Athletics’ two entry standards for the Games.
An athlete can either qualify through the automatic entry standard or via the athletes world ranking.
Ogunlewe fulfilled all the conditions why two of the athletes did not viz Favour Ashe and Godson Oghenebrume.
Five Nigerian male sprinters met World Athletics’ entry standards for the Games and the absence of the duo of Ashe and Oghenebrume at the trials could have made it easier for the AFN to pick the other three who competed at the trials.
The AFN prepared the ground for Ogunlewe’s exclusion by not picking him for the African Athletics Championships despite coming fourth in the 100m final. Instead they picked athletes who placed after the 32 year old.
When the time came to select the team to Paris 2024, the AFN didn’t even think of its selection criteria and the decision of its technical sub-committee before yanking off Ogunlewe’s name.
The expected noise of nepotism and injustice that dominated the media space and athletics circle meant the federation needed to explain, especially to the Sports Development Minister, why Ogunlewe was not included in the team to Paris.
The AFN’s explanation not only exposed the nepotism that has found a home in the federation since 2008 but also the lies that portrayed them as incompetent and unfit to manage the affairs of track and field in Nigeria.
Let’s look at the lies that showed Ogunlewe’s exclusion was premeditated.
In the letter to the Sports development minister, the AFN lied that athletes who ranked above 56 are not qualified for the Games, mixing the number of athletes World Athletics required to compete in the event for a rule that only exists in the imagination of the federation officials.
The AFN wrote thus: ‘World Athletics stipulates two ways of qualifying for the Games. The first is by attaining the qualification standard of 10:00secs. The second way is by securing a world ranking not higher than 56th.’
Incredible did you say? Where did the AFN get their ‘a world ranking not higher than 56th’ from? Did you say this is the height of incompetence?
Ogunlewe is ranked 68th in the world and they felt the Sports Development Minister, being a politician and a farmer is one they can easily deceive.
What they did not tell the Minister is that only three athletes are allowed to compete per country which frees slots for other athletes from other countries.
For example, as many as 14 athletes met the qualification requirements from the USA and more than three from such countries as Jamaica, Great Britain and Canada.
This allowed six athletes who ranked higher than Ogunlewe, including Trinidad and Tobago’s Devin Augustine who is ranked 84th to qualify for the Olympics.
The AFN also cooked up the medical report story.
‘Ashe and Oghenebrume did not compete in the trials because they were medically examined and exempted by the medical team of the competition and ratified by Professor Ken Anugweje, Chairman of the Medical and Anti-Doping Commission of the AFN’, the federation also wrote.
In the ‘Annexure A’ attached to the letter of May 23rd, 2024 titled : CRITERIA FOR PARTICIPATION AND SELECTION, the AFN stated the criteria thus:
‘The Federation want to seize this medium to inform all athletes that have qualified and those that are still seeking qualification to the Olympics Games to note the under
listed requirements and criteria as a prerequisite for selection to the Africa Senior Championships and the Olympic Games.
‘i. Only athletes with the 3 Out of Competition Test will be eligible for selection after the trials.
‘ii. For the relays, only 5 athletes are eligible for selection and those who have made the automatic qualifying standard and have entered for individual event are automatically part of the 5 relays pool members.
‘iii. It is the responsibility of all athletes to make sure that all their traveling document are intact and up-to-date.
‘iv. All athletes will be required to sign code of conduct with the Federation, upon selection to represent the country.
There was no mention of medical exemption in the criteria for participation drawn up by the federation and rightfully so as it was a selection trials where a level playing field should have been provided for all the athletes.
