The President of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria, Tonobok Okowa, has countered the excuse given by sprinter, Favour Ofili, for dumping Nigeria for a new country, Turkey, as he said the move was motivated by money and not for any other reason.
Ofili confirmed her allegiance to Turkey on Monday, September 1, while blaming the AFN and the Nigerian Olympic Committee for her decision, claiming they had denied her the opportunity to perform at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics.
However, in a swift reaction, Okowa said the athlete should come clean and not blame others for her decision, as her switch was purely for financial gain.
“Ofili herself knows the whole truth. This is all about money. She and her coach are trying to make some money,” Okowa told ESPN.
“I don’t see anything wrong with that, but as far as I am concerned, if she wants to go, it’s okay. She’s an adult, but she should stop using these reasons as her excuse.
“Okay, the Kenyans and Jamaicans that are going to Turkey, what reasons do they have? Let her go in peace. She’s an adult; she has the right to make her decision if she wants to switch allegiance or not.
“As far as I am concerned, the first Olympics, she did not complete her out-of-competition test. And Nigeria cannot be held responsible. At that time, I was not even the president then; we just came in two weeks after. Her preparation was done by the former administration.
“But an athlete is supposed to fill out her whereabouts, to enable the testing officers to get to her. Unfortunately, she did not complete her three out-of-competition tests, and that was why some of them were not allowed to compete. That is not the AFN’s problem.”
On not being entered for the 100m in Paris, Okowa said it was not the AFN’s fault either, as they did what they were supposed to do: “The technical department said they put her name, and truly I was sure that her name was there.
“The list that I saw last that we signed off, her name was there. So, I don’t know where down the line the name got missing in transit.”
However, he argued that the athlete may not have performed well in the event anyway: “The other two athletes that were registered for the 100m, Tima Godbless and Rosemary Chukwuma, had better qualifying times. Ofili barely managed to qualify during our trials.
“Technically, she may not have been able to handle both of them. In the final race for the 200m, she was already tired and shutting down.
“It is possible that the technical department decided to give her just the 200m because it was decided that she would not be able to do both, but I doubt if that is what it was.”
