‘I knew Ofili was not listed for the 100 meters about the 11th or 12th of July in Team Nigeria’s pre-Olympics camp in Germany,’ says AFN technical director, Onikeku

Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, Technical Director, Samuel Onikeku has admitted he got wind of the non-registration of Nigeria’s 100m champion, Favour Ofili for the blue ribband event at the Paris 2024 Olympics well over two weeks before the start of the athletics event of the Games.

In his testimony to the investigative panel set up by then former Sports Development Minister, John Owan Enoh, Onikeku admitted he ‘got a hint that Favour Ofili had not been confirmed for the 100 meters.’

While insisting he registered the 21-year-old for both the 100m and 200m events as well as the 4x100m relay event, Onikeku said in his testimony he thought the hint he got was a rumour and ‘didn’t take the hint seriously. I thought it was a rumour.

‘But much later, on the 19th or 20th of July while still in Saarbrucken, someone (I can’t remember now) repeated the hint on one of our National Coaches’ platforms on WhatsApp that Ofili was not on the list for the 100 meters event. We left Saarbrucken on the 25th of July’

The panel accused Onikeku of poor judgement by not following up on a rumour that affected one of the athletes under his care as the technical director of the track and field team at the Olympics.

The Committee slammed the AFN Technical Director, saying he ‘made a POOR JUDGEMENT by not reporting such an important ‘hint’ or ‘rumour’ about his own athlete’s omission from an Olympic Games event, even if only to cross-check its veracity or otherwise.’

Published here unedited is Onikeku’s testimont to the panel:

I PERSONALLY registered Favour Ofili for the women’s 100 meters, 200 meters and 4X100 meters events on the Event Entry System (EES) on the World Athletics portal.

After that, it was the responsibility of the Nigeria Olympics Committee (NOC) to confirm her entry for the 100 meters. If NOC does not confirm an athlete, he or she
cannot participate in the event.

I have here a print-out of the EES showing all the entries that I made. It shows that I entered Favour Ofili for the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4X100 relays. I hereby tender the document to support my claim.

Before I registered our athletes, I interacted with them. I called Ofili on telephone in the United States to ask whether she wanted to participate in the 100- and 200-meters events that she qualified for, in addition to the 4X100 meters relay.

She said ‘yes’, so I entered her name for the three events. To buttress my point, her colleague, Rosemary Chukwuma also qualified for both the 100 and 200 meters, but Rosemary said I should only enter her for the 100meters and 4X100 meters relay.

Due to the changes made to the event schedule at the 2024 Olympics by World Athletics, the 100- and 200-meters women’s events were very close to each other which made many athletes to only concentrate on one. But Ofili said she would run the two and I registered her accordingly.

The athlete registration procedure is such that National Sports Federations like us (AFN) would enter our qualified athletes in the Event Entry System (EES) of the World Athletics portal, stating their names and the events we were entering them for, among other information.

After we had done the ENTRY, the Nigeria Olympics Committee (NOC) then will CONFIRM the registration by ticking designated boxes for each athlete and their events on the portal. It is only the NOC that has the access 13 to do this confirmation as the affiliate of the International Olympics Committee (IOC), organizers of the Olympic Games.

After the window for all athletes worldwide to qualify for the Paris Olympics closed on 30th June, 2024, I compiled the list of Nigeria’s athletes and formally registered them on the Event Entry System on 2nd July.

Then on 5th July, I signed and handed over a copy of the same list to the Secretary General of AFN for release to the press and submission either to the Nigeria Olympics Committee (NOC) or the Ministry of Sports Development.

At that point, my own job was done. I had no direct contact at all with the NOC or the Ministry of Sports. I followed the laid down procedures that the Ministry gave us to follow. The deadline for the NOC to confirm all our entries for the Olympics was 8th July 2024.

I didn’t gain access to the World Athletics portal again until around the 27th or 28th of July, about four or five days before the Athletics events were about to start in Paris when the Virtual Technical Information Center (V-TIC) was opened for final confirmation of events before the allocation of running lanes.

Each country was given two access codes, one for the Sport Federation and one for the National Olympic Committee. It was there I saw for the first time that our NOC access was held by Mr.
Samuel Fadele, while I held the access for AFN as the Technical Director. Favour Ofili was not listed for the 100 meters event.

In fact, I already knew before then that she was not listed for the 100 meters. About the 11th or 12th of July when we were in the pre-Olympics camp in Saarbrucken, Germany, I got a hint that Favour Ofili had not been confirmed for the 100 meters.

Initially, I didn’t take the hint seriously. I thought it was a rumour. But much later, on the 19th or 20th of July while still in Saarbrucken, someone (I can’t remember now) repeated the hint on one of our National Coaches’ platforms on WhatsApp that Ofili was not on the list for the 100 meters event. We left Saarbrucken on the 25th of July.

Ofili did not attend the pre-Olympic camp in Saarbrucken which is another matter entirely. But when she arrived in Paris for the Games, she called me on the night of 28th July that she didn’t see her name in the start list for the 100 meters.

I reminded her that I registered her but that she could calm down while I informed the President and Secretary General of AFN. I also sent to Ofili on WhatsApp a copy of the entry
that I made on the EES to World Athletics, showing her name in the 100, 200 and 4X100 meters events.

The AFN Secretary wrote to World Athletics on the same night of 28th July requesting that a correction be made, but World Athletics replied on the 29th of July that the Nigeria Olympic Committee did not include Ofili in the 100 meters.

As a technical delegate myself with access to the V-TIC, I wrote a similar appeal to the Technical Delegates on behalf of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria to reconsider
Ofili’s case.

Also, the NOC Secretary General, Mr. Tunde Popoola, using the access held by Samuel Fagunwa, wrote another appeal to the same V-TIC.

An aspect of Mr. Popoola’s letter even contradicted my own because he was not properly informed and he didn’t consult with me, concerning the event status of another Nigerian athlete, Rosemary Chukwuma.

Anyway, all our appeals for Ofili to be inscripted for the 100 meters were rejected by World Athletics and the Technical Delegates. I now 14 had the unpleasant responsibility of going back to inform Ofili on 30th July that she couldn’t run in the 100 meters.