The last has not been heard about the disqualification of ten promising Nigerian athletes at the ongoing Olympic Games in Tokyo, as the Athletic Federation of Nigerian (AFN) has revealed that the ministry of Youth and Sports Development under the leadership of Sunday Dare is solely responsible for the unfortunate incident in Tokyo.
In a press statement made available to New National Star on Monday, signed by its President, Engr. Ibrahim Gusau, the AFN also disclaimed a statement titled: “RE: ATHLETICS INTEGRITY UNIT DECISION, AFN ASSURES NIGERIANS ON ATHLETES PERFORMANCE” and signed by one T. Okowa, stressing that the statement does not reflect their position on the matter.
AFN in the statement claimed that it did all within its powers to avert the situation but the minister of sport through the National Anti-Doping Committee (NADO/NADC) worked against their efforts.
Therefore, the AFN under the leadership of Gusau said it cannot be liable for the calamity, stressing that they duly informed NADO/NADC under the FMYSD about the need for the athletes, as contained in their list, to be frequently tested in keeping with AIU’s requirements.
But, he stated that rather than comply with these requirements, NADO/NADC under the FMYSD ignored their several warnings which was first communicated to them on March 13, 2020, with several reminders before their last communication on January 8, 2021.
The statement reads in part, “The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), under my leadership, is not responsible for the unfortunate incidents that led to the disqualification of 10 of our very promising athletes, not alternate athletes as the Federal Ministry of Youth & Sports Development labelled them and sought to deceive the world into believing, from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
“We are pained by their disqualification, which could have been avoided and sympathize with these 10 athletes, some of whom we nurtured from the cradle. We reaffirm that we will always stand and defend the interests of Nigerian Athletes.
“The Federation distances itself from a statement titled: “RE: ATHLETICS INTEGRITY UNIT DECISION, AFN ASSURES NIGERIANS ON ATHLETES PERFORMANCE” and signed by one T. Okowaas this does not reflect our position on the matter. We did all within our powers to prevent the ugly incident.
“We emphatically reject the Statement in its entirety particularly Paragraph 3 which says: “The AFN bears responsibility for any lapses that may have occurred during the process and reassures Nigerians that our performances will not be negatively impacted.”
“We informed the National Anti-Doping Committee (NADO/NADC), which though ought to be independent has been placed under the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development (FMYSD).In our correspondence dated March 13th 2020, the attention of the NADO/NADC was drawn to Rule 15 of the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after we were classified as a Category A Federation. We advised on the need to carry out mandatory tests that would pull Nigeria out of the Category A classification.
“We categorically state that it is not the responsibility of the Federation to carry out Anti-Doping tests. It is that of NADO/NADC and since this organisation or committee had been placed under the control of the FMYSD, it behoves on the FMYSD to provide the funds required for the tests.
“The FMYSD, despite our public outcry and warning refused to fund the NADO/NADC to carry out its primary responsibility. We recommended this in our mail of 28th March 2020 to NADO/NADC and copied both the Ministry and AIU.
“On May 27, 2020, a letter from NADO/NADCtitled: “ANTI-DOPING INFORMATION AND EDUCATION PLATFORM FOR ATHLETES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTERED TESTING POOL” and addressed to “The Secretary-General of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria” was made available to us. The letter contained a list of 52 high ranking athletes registered in the NADC 2020 Testing Pool. The list was not comprehensive enough and as many as 8 of the disqualified athletes were not captured in that list.
We raised the observation; compiled and forwarded to NADO/NADC a more comprehensive and updated list containing 137 names as of December 2019. The purpose of this was to prevent the unfortunate incident experienced in Tokyo.
“When NADO/NADC was not forthcoming, probably as a result of lack of funds, we offered to pay for the tests and requested that the estimated costs be forwarded to us. Unfortunately, in keeping with the directives of the Ministry, we were met with silence, as the FMYSD refused to obey the High Court judgment which recognized me as the AFN President and the Appeal Court ruling, which upheld the High Court judgment.
“When we were unofficially informed that NADO/NADC had been instructed by the Minister not to relate or deal with us because we were not recognized by the FMYSD, our then Technical Director, Mr Sunday Adeleye went on air on the 25th of November 2020, to highlight the dangers awaiting our athletes and warned about the consequences of not carrying out those tests. His warning was published in major National Dailies but was described by the FMYSD as an “attention-seeking” ploy by someone who does not understand AIU’s Rule 15.
“Once again, we sympathize with the 10 disqualified athletes and promise that we would do everything within our powers to avert this from ever happening again,” the statement concluded.