Nigerian men surrendered the 100m gold of the African Championships for the first time in eight years, when Obinna Metu and Ogho-Oghene Egwero failed to beat Cote’s Ivoire’s Ben Youssef Meite and Ghana’s veteran Aziz Zakare in Thursday’s final.

That blight in Nairobi was the first time Nigerian men will not be winning a 100m individual medal in the history of the event.

And if not for Blessing Okagbare, the women were just on their way to doing the same. Okagbare won emphatically, in her race with a time of 11.03 to set a new championships record. And it seems she is the only athlete the country can hope on to win a medal at the forth coming Commonwealth Games in India.
Metu had ran the fastest time in the heat, but in the semi-final he showed signs of tiredness and it was no surprise when he sauntered to the seventh position in the final. Egworo was fifth in the field, certainly a disappointing result for an athlete that was credited to have run a 10.13 seconds this season at the Athletics Federation of Nigeria Golden League in Yaba, Lagos. The outing by the men is the worst Nigeria has ever posted since Ghana’s Earnest Obeng won the men’s title in the first edition in 1979, and then defended it 1982. Chidi Imoh started a Nigerian winning streak in 1984 and kept the title in 1985. Ghana’s Leo Myles Mills broke the cycle in Algeria ‘88, Senegal’s Amadou Mbagnick Mbaye won in Lagos ‘89, with Patrick Nwankwo. settling for bronze. Kenya’s Joseph Ginkoyo won in 1990 with Nigeria’s Abudulahi Tentengi coming second for the silver. Nigeria’s Victor Omagbemi won a double in 1992, Daniel Philips won in Durban 1993 to register his name on the list of Nigerian champions.
In 1996 Seun Ogunkoya reopened Nigeria’s chapter when he won in Cameroon, two years later he won in Dakar, Senegal to stun Frankie Fredericks with a 9.92 African record run.