Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
Shock waves have greeted the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) following the news making the rounds that one of the country’s finest female athletes, Favour Ofili, 22, is seeking to switch allegiance to Turkiye.
The President of AFN, Chief Tonobok Okowa said on Sunday that, “Just like every other sports loving person in Nigeria, on the continent and beyond that he and his newly elected board read and heard her desire to change nationality from the media.
“If this is true, it is sad, disheartening and painful but we are yet to get any official statement from her or any correspondence from World Athletics (WA), on her request. She is a promising athlete with huge potential.
“The AFN and the National Sports Commission (NSC), have been working hard to get athletics and other sports in the country back on track and to show that both bodies are matching goals, objectives and words with action, Favour Ofili had already been paid her training grant for this year,” Okowa said.
Okowa went on to state that the 22-year-old athlete has prevented the Federation from reaching her and that all efforts to heal the wounds caused by 100m Paris Olympic Games omission has proved abortive.
“From the moves we have been making to get her fully prepared and back to the big athletics family and her response, it’s also clear that she had been preparing and working on her new found Turkish love. She is old enough to decide what’s best for her but it painful and hard to take for us, however we will not stop her, she is still our child, sister and daughter,” the CAA Vice President stressed.
“We want to apologise to Nigerians, the NSC and the millions of people around the world who hold the sport and country in high esteem for this sad development.
“Despite our own inadequacies, on several occasions she shunned the national trials and even when she came, she selects the events she preferred to compete in,” the AFN boss said.
At the 2024 African Championships in Cameroon, she refused to compete in the 100m after running in the heats, claiming that the organisers did not provide the right atmosphere for competition.
She also did not turn up for the last Africa Games in Accra, Ghana.
“No doubt Ofili is one of best our athletes in recent times but she is difficult to deal with,” said the Federation.
“The AFN has its issues, but we are getting along well with other top athletes and are still thriving within the system. We wish her well in whatever she is doing and wherever she is going.”