On May 11, 2025, the title of this Column was ‘Revisiting Alao Committee Report’ and I began by quoting Luke Chapter 22:2 which states that “there

is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.” I will rerun part of it here to show that we tried as much as possible to sound a warning about what may likely happen if the Alao Committee report, as it concerns Favour Ofili, is swept under the carpet.

It went thus :”It would be recalled that after the Paris Olympics embarrassment where Team Nigeria returned without a single medal and the mishandling of a medal prospect, Favour Ofili’s participation in her core event, the 100m, then sports minister, Senator John Owan Enoh set up a committee to investigate it.

This was after his interaction, according to him, with officials of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, the Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC as well as the International Olympic Committee, IOC.

The committee was headed by one of Nigeria’s shinning lights in sports journalism, Dr. Mumini Alao, whose terms of reference included revisiting the issues that exposed the nation inappropriately. While inaugurating the committee, Senator Enoh said, “it is only when we seriously and properly address these issues, instead of sweeping them under the carpet, can we pave a positive way forward”.

Alao and his colleagues did the job, though revealing there were some controversial statements from those interrogated, and submitted the report to the defunct sports ministry on October 22, 2024, a day before the ministry was scrapped and replaced with the National Sports Commission, NSC, replacing Senator Enoh with Alhaji Shehu Dikko.

Good enough, Enoh handed over the report to Alhaji Dikko, the newly appointed Chairman of the NSC, on October 30. That was the last we heard about the report as Alhaji Dikko and his colleague, Chief Bukola Olopade who was appointed Director General of the NSC have kept mute about it till date.

Thank God the Alao committee did a wise thing by briefing the media their findings and the recommendations for those found culpable for the show of shame.

The report stated that the omission of Ofili’s name was traceable to the following organisations: the AFN, the NOC, World Athletics, and the IOC. Fingered in the report was the Secretary General of the AFN, Rita Mosindi. She was found to be “negligent in her duty of communicating to the Ministry of Sports Development and the Nigeria Olympic Committee information about Ofili’s event status in a reliable and timely manner.”.

She was not alone. Samuel Onikeku, AFN Technical Director, was said to have demonstrated “poor judgement” by failing to act on a “hint” of Ofili’s non-registration for the 100m event, adding that the situation may have been saved had Onikeku reported or acted on the information.

It then recommended that the officials be penalised by appropriate authorities and that the AFN should pay the sum of N8 million to Ofili for “the disappointment and depression that she suffered on account of her omission”.

I have skipped part of the piece which also talked about the case of the country’s first cyclist to qualify for the Olympics, Ese Ukpeseraye. That is another case being swept under the carpet by the prodding of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC, President, Engr. Habu Gumel.

The May piece continued thus:

“What is the NOC president afraid of? Was it because the NOC which he heads was indicted?

Surprisingly too, the NSC with new men at the helm have failed to look into the report and act accordingly. Recall what the former sports minister said, that “it is only when we seriously and properly address these issues, instead of sweepingthemunderthecarpet,canwe paveapositiveway forward”. Why is SportsGuard revisiting the Paris Olympics flop investigation? Senator Enoh is becoming a prophet because what he said is already playing out.

Days before the list of Team Nigeria’s contingent for the World Relays was released, a Lagos-based radio station hinted that Ofili says she may not participate in any competition.

This may be due to the way her matter was treated. No action has been taken against those who wrongfully omitted her name from the 100m at the Paris Olympics. Worst still, the compensation recommended for her by the Alao committee has been ignored. In fact the entire report has been swept under the carpet.

I ended the May 11 piece on this note: “Is Senator Enoh not vindicated now when he said that sweeping matters under the carpet will not allow the country move forward?

It is exactly 49 days since this rhetorical question was asked but did the NSC helmsmen bother to look into the matter? Of course not. That is why we are back talking about the same problem which has now taken a more embarrassing dimension.

After the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 heartbreaks, Ofili had threatened that if the injustice meted to her was not addressed she may not represent the country anymore. And she has kept to her word by switching nationality. Nigerians are already lamenting her loss to Turkey, wondering why the AFN and NSC have allowed what happened with Francis Obikwelu and Gloria Alozie happen again.

Olympic gold medallist, Chioma Ajunwa while ruing Ofili’s decision, affirmed that nobody should blame her for her action. “You can’t blame her because after the heartbreak she suffered at the (two) Olympics, there was no punishment for the culprits. They should have been penalized to realize the enormity of their mistakes”, she surmised.

This is the result of ‘burying’ the Alao Committee report. And it is the fault of both Dikko and Olopade, the helmsmen at the NSC.