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The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) will on Saturday meet to discuss the actions of officials involved in the failure to register Favour Ofili for the 100m at the 2024 Olympic Games, which ultimately led to her being disqualified despite having qualified.
The fate of two senior AFN officials blamed for the administrative errors and poor judgement that led to Ofili’s exclusion will be high on the agenda.
In July, Favour Ofili publicly expressed her frustration after learning that she would not be able to compete in the 100m at Paris 2024 due to mistakes made by the AFN and the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC). Ofili called for accountability and questioned the reliability of both organisations. She only participated in the women’s 200m at Paris 2024.
“I deeply regret to announce that I won’t be competing in the 100m at these Olympics. I qualified but the AFN and NOC failed to register me. I’ve worked for four years for this opportunity. For what?,” said who won a bronze medal at the 2021 World Athletics Championships U20.
Despite meeting the qualification criteria, Ofili revealed that officials failed to complete her registration, echoing a similar issue that left 14 Nigerian athletes unable to compete at Tokyo 2020, as she had previously highlighted.
The meeting, originally scheduled for last Sunday via Zoom, was postponed due to a lack of quorum and rescheduled for this Saturday November 23.
Nigerians are eager to see if the AFN will implement the recommendations of an investigative committee set up by former Sports Development Minister John Owan Enoh to look into the matter and impose sanctions.
The committee, headed by Dr Mumini Alao, recommended disciplinary action against AFN technical director Samuel Onikeke for negligence.
Onikeke admitted that he learned of Ofili’s exclusion from the 100m on July 11 or 12, two days before the Final Delegation Registration Meeting (F-DRM), which took place virtually on July 14, and two weeks before the start of the athletics events in Paris.
“The Technical Director of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Samuel Onikeke, should be sanctioned by the AFN Board – of which he is also a member – for failing to report the ‘hints’ and ‘rumours’ he heard about Favour Ofili’s exclusion from the 100m,” the committee said.
Had Onikeke shared this information with the AFN secretariat, president or other board members, corrective action could have been taken during the F-DRM. Instead, Ofili discovered the omission herself on July 28, far too late to correct the error.
The Commission of Inquiry also called for sanctions against AFN Secretary General Rita Mosindi for negligence.
“Rita Mosindi, the secretary general of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, should be sanctioned by the appropriate authority for dereliction of duty. She has failed to provide convincing evidence to support her claim that she submitted vital documents relating to Favour Ofili’s 100m registration to the Ministry of Sports Development and the NOC.
“Her reliance on WhatsApp as her sole means of official communication reflects poorly on her competence as an administrative officer,” the report added.
The AFN may recommend Mosindi’s removal as secretary general to the National Sports Council (NSC) if her employers are reluctant to act on the committee’s recommendations.
The board will also discuss whether to pay Ofili $5,000 (€4,600) in compensation, as suggested by the committee.
In addition to this critical issue in July, the board is expected to discuss the federation’s programme for the 2025 season, including plans for the 20th World Championships in Athletics, to be held in Tokyo, Japan, from September 13-21, 2025, under the auspices of World Athletics.
