The unanswered question of 2024: Who failed to register Ofili for Paris Olympics 100m event?
The 2024 calendar year ends on Tuesday December 31 at 12 midnight with a question Nigerian and global sports watchers, especially track and field would have loved to get an answer for: Who failed to register Favour Ofili for the 100m event of the Paris 2024 Olympics?
Former Nigeria Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh set up an investigative committee to unravel this negative exposure and others but the committee’s report left more questions on its trail after it was ordered to be made public by Mallam Shehu Dikko, the new man in charge of Sports in Nigeria.
The committee recommended that the Secretary General of the AFN, Ms Rita Mosindi should be sanctioned for negligence on the matter.
The Committee wrote thus: The Secretary General of Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), RITA MOSINDI should be penalized by the appropriate authority for NEGLIGENCE in her duties.
She was unable to provide convincing evidence to our Committee to support her claim that she submitted important documents relating to the registration of the athlete, Favour Ofili in the 100 meters, to the Ministry of Sports Development and the Nigeria
Olympic Committee (NOC).
Rita Mosindi’s reliance on social media WhatsApp messaging as the only means of official communication does not speak well of her competence as an administrative officer.’
Till today, the last day of year 2024, the National Sports Commission is yet to act on the report, especially the damning verdict on Ms Rosindi who was also recommended for sanctions by an AFN Audit Committee in October.
The Committee also blasted former AFN head of technical subcommittee, Samuel Onikeku for his ‘poor judgement’ regarding the registration of Ofili.
The Committee wrote thus:The Technical Director of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), SAMUEL ONIKEKU, should be sanctioned by the Board of AFN – of which he is also a member – for not reporting the “hint” and “rumour” respectively that he heard about the non-registration of the athlete, Favour Ofili, for the 100 meters event.
Top officials of the Ministry of Sports Development and the NOC held their Final Delegation Registration Meeting (F-DRM) online on 14th July, 2024.
By his own admission, Samuel Onikeku first got the “hint” about Ofili’s exclusion from the 100 meters on “11th or 12th July, 2024.”
Perhaps if he had shared his information with the AFN secretariat, the AFN President or other Board members, intervention proceedings might have commenced during the F-DRM on 14 July to address Ofili’s omission rather than wait till Favour Ofili came around to discover the omission by herself very late on 28 July, 2024.
In fact, the AFN Secretary General expressed surprise when the Technical Director reconfirmed the “hint” and “rumour” that he heard to our Committee.
The Secretary General said the Technical Director never told her about it. Technical Director Samuel Onikeku is a Chief Superintendent of Customs, a senior officer in the Nigerian Customs Service.
He said he didn’t report what he heard about Ofili’s omission because he didn’t want to be involved in any trouble and that, as a para-Military officer, he only obeys the command that he is given.
Our Committee is strongly of the view that the AFN Technical Director 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.
The Committee failed to ask what and whose order Onikeku obeyed and what trouble did he want to get involved in. This shows Onikeku knew more than he told the Committee and could have provided the answer to the Ofili question that may never be answered as the NSC has shown it is business as usual.
