The Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) announced Thursday in Paris that it would not be making any public comments on the registration status of athlete Favour Ofili at this time.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ofili revealed late Tuesday that she had discovered she was not registered for the 100 metres race at the ongoing Olympic Games.
There have been several reactions after this, with John Enoh, the Minister of Sports Development, asking for explanations and promising tough sanctions against those who may be found culpable.
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) also insisted that Ofili’s name was among those it submitted to the NOC for registration for Team Nigeria’s participation in the sprint event.
But Tony Nezianya, the Public Relations Officer of NOC, has insisted that the committee would not be saying anything on the matter for now and expected the AFN to do so.
”No comments from the NOC for now. The AFN is still the body that can explain what happened,” he said.
Nezianya, who is also Team Nigeria’s media attaché at Paris 2024, went on to say that the NOC was not going to allow the matter to distract it from its main goal.
”We are focused on the quest for gold medals for now because that is the ultimate,” he added.
NAN reports that Ofili has been registered for only the 200m event, leaving behind arguments on the propriety of that action when she had actually qualified for both events. (NAN)
