Paris 2024 Olympic: Nigeria's Pillar of Sports, Agu-Ejidike, calls for forensic probe of Team Nigeria's shambolic performance

Posted : 13 August 2024

Nigeria's Pillar of Sports, Chief Donatus Agu-Ejidike, has called on the National Assembly and other relevant government authorities to launch a forensic probe into Team Nigeria's shambolic performance at the just-concluded Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Team Nigeria paraded no fewer than 80 athletes in about a dozen sports but recorded zero medals.

Ejidike made the call during an interaction with newsmen in his office in Ilorin, Kwara State.

He bemoaned the lack of a podium finish for any of the registered athletes in their respective events. According to him, this would enable decision-makers to gather the necessary information to guide them on how to prevent a repeat in the future.

There have been occasions in the past when Nigeria participated in the Olympics without winning a medal.

For Team Nigeria, the 2024 Olympic Games, where everything that could go wrong, went wrong, was a replication of the 1952 Helsinki, 1956 Melbourne, 1960 Rome, 1968 Mexico, 1980 Moscow, 1988 Seoul, and 2012 London Games, where the country participated without winning a medal.

The Anambra-born sports philanthropist attributed the country's lack of medals on those past occasions to the wide gap in development between Nigeria and other nations at that time.

"But the same cannot be said of the gap at this age and time when the world has become a global village, where access to modern training techniques has become liberalized, courtesy of the Internet, and also the majority of the athletes representing the country are based abroad," he added.

He also called for an inquiry into the administrative ineptitude that led to the omission of some athletes who, before the Games, were medal prospects.

"A case in point is Favour Ofili, who suffered a similar fate in Tokyo 2020, and now the Paris 2024 Olympics.

"Also, cyclist Ese Ukpeseraye had to turn to her German colleagues, from whom she borrowed a bicycle to race.

"In defense, the Minister for Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh, explained that the slot was allocated to Nigeria following a 'last-minute' disqualification of one of the countries that had already qualified, thereby making it a short-notice invitation.

"However, with due respect to the Minister, there is nothing wrong if the Nigerian Cycling Federation (NCF) made a standby arrangement, knowing fully well that Nigeria is the best-placed loser to benefit from any withdrawal or disqualification," Ejidike opined.

He maintained that there is a need for a comprehensive probe to unravel the identity of "who failed to do what" that denied the young lady the opportunity she had spent years working hard to prepare for.

The patron of the Nigerian Football Supporters Club (NFSC) also recalled with regret the number of athletes of Nigerian descent who, due to the administrative laxity in Nigeria, switched allegiance to represent and win medals for other countries at the quadrennial event.

"One of them," according to him, "is Salwa Eid Naser, born in Onitsha, Anambra State, originally named Eberechukwu Agbapuonwu, who represented and won a medal for her adopted country—Bahrain—in the women's 400m. Rasheed Adeleke, who represented the Republic of Ireland, was also born of Nigerian parents from Ọ̀yọ́ State.

"She was also a high performer. Even though she did not have a podium finish at the Olympics, she has been an Irish national record holder.

"Ayomide Folorunsho, another Nigerian by descent, competed for Italy in the women's 400m. Not forgetting the Nigerian, Saheed Idowu, who competed in the Table Tennis event, wearing the colors of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"The most painful of them all is Annette Echikunwoke, who suffered the same fate as Ofili in Tokyo, wanting to represent Nigeria three years ago.

"She, as a result of the chronic administrative ineptitude that characterizes sports administration in Nigeria, switched her international allegiance to the United States of America, and this time around, she won a silver medal in Hammer Throw, while Yemisi Ogunleye, another Nigerian by origin, won gold for Germany in Shot Put, and the list goes on and on."

The Nnewi-born former President of the Karate Federation of Nigeria (KFN) described the performance of Team Nigeria at the event as "shambolic and unacceptable and must be probed, considering the country's pedigree in the comity of sporting nations globally."

"This is coupled with how much (Twelve billion Naira—₦12,000,000,000) the Federal Government released for the prosecution of the Games," he added.

Not done, Ejidike quipped: "How was the money spent that it never impacted our medal fortunes through performance?

"Who was responsible for the non-registration of Favour Ofili for the women's 100m event?

"How come nobody raised an alarm when the list of registered athletes, without her name, came out?

"Why were the D'Tigresses denied entry to the venue of the opening ceremony?"

"These," according to him, "are some of the salient questions that need to be answered by the people in charge."

He, however, praised the individual athletes, saying that Nigerians noticed and appreciated their efforts, which were never complemented by the administrators.

He singled out the national women's basketball team, the D'Tigress, for special commendation for making it to the quarterfinals—a feat never achieved by any African country, male or female.

The Pillar of Sports also lamented the culture of those running sports in Nigeria, populating the Nigerian contingent with their cronies and relatives—people who have nothing to contribute to the running of the affairs of Team Nigeria.

He described it as unfortunate and called for an end to such a despicable habit if Nigeria is to avoid this type of abysmal outing at any international meet. Sports federations' officials, while doing their jobs, must do away with the mindset that they are doing the athletes a favor.

"They need to know that, without the athletes, there would be no need for their office and their presence in Paris," he concluded.

Paris 2024 Olympic: Nigeria's Pillar of Sports, Agu-Ejidike, calls for forensic probe of Team Nigeria's shambolic performance

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