The Athletics Federation of Nigeria on Thursday announced that the country would miss out on the World Relays’ Olympic qualifiers in Poland.
In a statement titled ‘Sports ministry scuttles Nigeria’s World Relays participation’, the AFN’s factional president, Ibrahim Shehu-Gusau, blamed the Sunday Dare-led Sports Ministry for the disappointment.
Nigerian sprinters’ absence from the relays billed to start from May 1 to 2 comes amidst a leadership crisis currently rocking AFN with the Olamide George-led AFN faction getting the support of the sports ministry.
The Sports Ministry, according to The PUNCH, has since debunked the allegation, adding that the factional AFN boss, Shehu-Gusau is not a recognised authority to make such a claim.
According to a statement by the sports minister’s aide, John Joshua Akanji, the ministry had no hand in the fiasco as “the athletes were denied visas by the US embassy.”
But the Shehu Gusau-led AFN was vehement in its claim.
“Nigeria will not participate in the World Relays because the Ministry of Youth and Sports opted to take the athletes to a training tour in the United States for the same relays, they are yet to qualify for, instead of a pre- Olympic Games qualification in Poland.
“The information at our disposal is that athletes who were supposed to represent Nigeria at the World Athletics Relays in Silesia, Poland were taken to the USA Embassy to obtain visas for a training tour of an event they were yet to qualify for.
“The scheduled relays in Poland were meant to enable Nigeria to secure qualification for the Olympic Games in Tokyo but to our disbelief, the athletes’ passports were diverted to the USA Embassy to secure visas for a training camp for an event they are yet to qualify for. How can a qualification competition in Poland which was our best bet be ignored for a training camp in the USA?
“This is one of the numerous reasons why sports in Nigeria should be allowed to be administered according to international best practices,” the statement read.
