AFN Is the First Guilty Party in Age Fraud Scandal
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has once again chosen the path of self-preservation over accountability.
In response to a December 2, 2025, letter from the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) raising concerns about multiple dates of birth for 17 Nigerian athletes, the federation has set up a five-member ‘Special Investigative Committee’ and given it three days to submit a report.
Three days. For a scandal that first erupted last year and was left to rot. The timeline is not just unrealistic, it is insulting.
This is not the first time Nigerian athletics has been dragged into the mud over age discrepancies. The problem surfaced last year, yet the AFN failed to act decisively to prevent a recurrence.
Now, instead of answering the AIU’s direct question: why athletes have conflicting dates of birth, the federation has chosen to sit in judgment over itself. That is the very definition of a conflict of interest.
The president of the AFN, Tonobok Okowa, should be the first to stand accused. He failed to act when the issue first emerged, and his poor judgment in appointments has only deepened the rot.
By naming the first vice president as chairman, he has ensured the committee will be self-serving, designed to shield leadership rather than expose the truth. The buck stops at his desk, and no committee can absolve him of responsibility.
Okowa’s own public reaction only underscores the federation’s lack of seriousness. Speaking on a radio programme, he absolved the AFN of blame entirely, insisting that athletes and their coaches are responsible for the infractions.
He described their behavior as ‘worrisome’ and claimed the matter ‘has nothing to do with the Athletics Federation of Nigeria but of course they are under our watch.’
This is a bizarre attempt to wash the federation’s hands of responsibility when, in fact, the AFN is the very body charged with verifying athletes’ ages before registration. To suggest otherwise is to deny the federation’s core duty.
Okowa even trivialized the discrepancies, pointing to cases where dates of birth differed by ‘just about 13 days’ and asking whether that was ‘a typographical error or whatever it is.’
Such dismissive rhetoric reveals a leadership more concerned with deflecting blame than confronting systemic fraud. He went further to rate the federation highly, boasting about Nigeria’s participation in the World Championships as though attendance at competitions is the core function of the Federation.
The AIU is not asking for excuses or deflections. It is demanding accountability. It wants the AFN to explain why Nigerian athletes have multiple dates of birth across competitions. That responsibility lies squarely with the federation, which has failed in its basic duty.
The AFN cannot tell the AIU the athletes and their coaches are to blame when they are not the ones that registered themselves for the competitions approved by the global body.
The three-day deadline is a farce. No serious investigation into systemic failures, document verification, and reform proposals can be completed in such a short time.
The haste betrays the federation’s intent: to paper over cracks, appease external pressure, and move on without confronting its own failures. Nigerian athletics deserves better.
Until Okowa accepts responsibility for his negligence and poor leadership, no committee will restore credibility. What the AIU seeks is truth, not excuses. And unless the federation confronts its own failures head on, Nigerian athletics will continue to be defined not by talent, but by scandal.
