Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh has said that the participation of Team Nigeria at the 2024 Paralympic Games in France was responsible for the delay in conclusion of the investigation on Favour Ofili Saga at the Olympic Games.
Nigeria sprinter and national women champion, Favour Ofili could not participate in the women’s 100 meters as her name was not listed. She however, accused the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) and the Athletic Federation of Nigeria (AFN) for failure to register her for the event.
Ofili was supposed to compete in the 100m race at the Games. Her name, was, however, omitted, a development that has raised questions among stakeholders. Reacting, the Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh promised to investigate the saga and punish anyone found wanting.
While giving an update about Ofili’s omission, Enoh said Nigerian officials are working on getting to the root of the matter and promised to bring to book those responsible for international embarrassment. He promised to chair a fact finding committee who will do a thorough job to discover those responsible and possibly punish them accordingly.
However, weeks after the end of the Olympic Games, nothing has been heard about the set up of the committee while the topical issue begins to die down.
Stating what led to the delay, on Morning Show on Arise TV last Wednesday, he said, “when Favour Ofili issue came out, I engaged many people that are involved and whoever was responsible for that kind of embarrassment would not go free.
“The fact that nothing has happened yet is because we are still engaging in international competition , the Paralympics Games ended on Sunday and we just got back. Immediately, we are having a meeting at the Ministry and at the end, Nigerians are going to know much about the culprits.
“The ministry is not responsible for submission of list to International Olympic Committee (IOC), it’s the Nigeria Olympics Committee that deals with different federations.” He concluded.
