In Nigerian athletics, merit is an orphan

Sani Ndanusa, NOC President

·                   Don’t bank on these folks for medals

As the world gathers to compete in the Olympics in London, I sit in review from my vantage position and all I see in the Nigerian team, especially in athletics is fraud. Even in the choice of athletes for the global event, we did not present our best athletes.

Those who know claimed that the President of the Federation chose his ‘loyal’ athletes. A check on the list showed how true this can be. I checked Seun Adigun, the 100m hurdler. The Olympic A qualifier for this event is 12.96secs and the B standard is 13.15secs. Her best time this year is 13.38secs which she ran in Kumasi on the06/07/12. In Port Novo, she ran 14.03secs. Whereas, in 2011, she ran 13.20secs in Maputo. Ordinarily, she has no business in London except meeting the Olympic spirit and values of participation.

Assuming we have a responsible AFN, by the beginning of the year, they would have started to ask what factors is inhibiting this athlete’s downward performance graph instead of the graph line rising into the Olympic. This is the type of questions some of us ask and some ‘goons’ hate to be asked.

Let’s take a comparative analysis of 400m flat for Women as example. If the Olympics had been 2011, only Regina George and Endurance Abinuwa would have qualified by our national global rating:

Time	Athlete	Date and venue	Olympic qualifying
51.31	Regina George	Eugene 27/05/11	A
52.28	Endurance Abinuwa	Lubbock 22/04/11	B
52.35	Bukola Abogunloko	Calabar 24/06/11
52.59	Muizat Ajoke Odumosu	Calabar 24/06/11
52.71	Chizoba Okodogbe	Tucson 14/05/11
52.74	Omolara Omotosho	Calabar 23/06/11
52.77	Margaret Etim	Calabar 24/06/11

This is the 2012 rating for the same event.

Time	Athlete	Date and venue	Olympic qualifying
51.11	Regina George	Port Novo 29/06/12	A
51.28	Omolara Omotosho	Calabar 21/06/12	A
51.57	Bukola Abogunloko	Atlanta 12/05/12	B
51.67	Margaret Etim	Warri 06/06/12/12	B
52.09	Florence Uwakwe	Warri 06/06/12/12	B
52.31	Endurance Abinuwa	Calabar 21/06/12	B
52.34	Josephine Ehigie	Nsukku 21/04/12	NQ due to time
52.38	Idara Otu	Port of Spain 22/04/12	NQ
52.49	Patience Okon	Nsukku 21/04/12	NQ
52.96	Muizat Ajoke Odumosu	St. Martin 09/05/12	NQ
52.97	Tosin Adeloye	Port Harcourt 19/05/12	NQ
52.98	Olouma Nwoke	Port Harcourt 19/05/12	NQ

In the 4x400m relay, we are presenting 4 x 400m Women

1.        Regina George

2.        Omolara Omotosho

3.        Bukola Abogunloko

4.         Endurance Abinuwa

5.         Idara Otu

6.         Margaret Etim

How did Endurance Abinuwa and Idara Out got into the squad ahead of Florence Uwakwe? Please see the table.

This is what the rule says: “A country is allowed a maximum of three athletes that reach the 'A' standard in an event who meet or exceed this mark in the 18-month period prior to the Olympics. The 'B' standard is slightly easier to reach, but only one additional athlete per nation may be entered who has met the 'B' standard without pushing on to the 'A' standard.”

Conclusion: Why should we do well in London? Why must we do well? Can we do well with such standards where merit is not the basis of representing the country?

NPL Chairman in match-fixing scandal

Baribote, NPL Chairman

The chairman of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL), Victor Rumson Baribote, is in the storm again. This time around, it is the charges of match-fixing, a grievous offence in football. The charges are coming from within his own camp with damning evidences which are detailed with names of persons and events.

In a 12-page letter written by Comrade Prince Udofia dated 11^th July, 2012 addressed to all board members of the Nigeria Premier League, titled: “PETITION AGAINST NPL CHAIRMAN CHIEF RUMSON VICTOR BARIBOTE FOR COMMITTING IMPEACHABLE OFFENCES AND EMBARASSING THE NPL AND NFF WITH OFFENSIVE CONDUCT”, Udofia claimed to be a member of the Association of Professional Footballers of Nigeria (APFON).

He added, “I am one of the committed people that stood up and fought for Chief Rumson Victor Baribote in his struggle to wrestle his mandate from Mr. Davidson Owumi.

His words: “I am petitioning against Chief Baribote now because his performance in office has instead of promoting the growth of the NPL as we planned, caused a serious downslide in the NPL such that people like us are totally disappointed and have to speak out now. Udofia laid 15 grounds of impeachment of his friend, Baribote.

In his letter, Udofia claimed, “the unlawful directive given to Barrister Iyke Igbokwe, Vice Chairman of NFF disciplinary committee by Chief Baribote to ensure that Sunshine Stars F.C. Akure was relegated using the two matches: Lobi Stars VS Sunshine Stars and ABS VS Sunshine Stars; I and Mr. Jonah Chukwu were there when Baribote was scolding Barrister Igbokwe for not implementing the relegation of Sunshine Stars at the NFF Disciplinary Committee Hearing.

Another case he brought up against Baribote was to the “Match commissioner of the Ocean Boys VS Enyimba match in Yenagoa, to ensure that Ocean Boys F.C. wins the match at all costs (which the Match Commissioner duly reported in his match report).” If this is true and proven, for the NPL Chairman to directly intervene in the conduct and eventual outcome of a match, it is match fixing according to Article 4.5 of NPL Rules and Regulation 2011/2012 season.

There is a third charge of match-fixing against the NPL Chairman. Udofia asserted that “last season, as Chairman of Bayelsa United, he bulldozed into a match involving Gabros FC and Rising Stars FC in a National League match that did not concern him or his club. Baribote sealed a fifteen million Naira (N15,000,000) agreement with Gabros FC who did not have money to play the match to enable Gabros FC honour the match.

Baribote entered into that agreement to ensure that Rising Stars lost the match so his club (Bayelsa United FC) could beat Rising Stars to the promotion ticket to the Premier League. Up till now, Gabros FC is still demanding the money from both Baribote and Bayelsa State government who is the sponsor of Bayelsa United to no avail.

Three Nigerian athletes in the drug web?

Solomon Ogba...not a laughing matter

*Nigeria loses win of African championship

Nigeria’s feeble ambition to win medals in athletics at the Olympics may have suffered a serious whiff of set back with three of her athletes caught in the web of drug again. This is authoritative, reliable and extremely true as usual.

The three athletes (who the AFN and its top echelon of officials are not willing to speak to this reporter) are known but due to official quietude or either a denial or confirmation will not be mentioned for now.

It is certain that the well-known “coach” who has been linked to majority of drug web issues in the Nigerian athletics fold who is presently one of the official assistants to national team coach, Innocent Egbunike is likely to have introduced one of the alleged athletes to taking the drug for which she has now been nabbed.

The athlete in question is the daughter of a former Nigerian international athlete. She was born and bred in the United State of America. This is her first time in the Nigerian team. It is coincidental that she was caught in the drug scam on her maiden Nigerian outing.

In view of the foregoing, Nigeria has lost automatically the self-praised winning of the last African Athletics championships in Port-Novo in Benin Republic as two of the team medals will have to be withdrawn by the Confederation of African Athletics. The two medals to be lost are the 4x100m and the 4x400m.

Another of the alleged drug culprit is by the new revelation a second timer. All three suspects (as they await the B sample of the test) are female. Sadly, the three who have in their rights the B standard would not be replaceable in the Nigerian Olympic squad since we did not register reserves. This puts our relay squad in a deep mess.  

…As Nigeria drops drug-tainted coach of Marion Jones

It is now official that Nigeria apart from its quality of drug-courier ‘coach’ in its national athletics camp has also employed and eventually dropped the drug-tainted American coach, Garfield Ellenwood, as one of the coaches to the London Games.

On the 2^nd July, the AFN president Solomon Ogba listed Ellenwood as one of the experts that could help improve Nigerian athletes in London when he released the official team list of the federation for the Games to the media at the secretariat of the Nigeria Olympic Committee.

Ellenwood, the former Bethune-Cookman head track and field coach was given a two-year suspension by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) that was announced on 28^th January, 2010.

One of the several publications on the matter in 2008 and 2010 traced his problems to the drug ring involving former disgraced American athlete, Marion Jones.

It read, “The suspension stems from Ellenwood’s testimony in May 2008 at the perjury trial of track coach Trevor Graham relating to the federal BALCO probe. Ellenwood testified Graham introduced him to a steroids dealer and he used steroids for a short period as a track athlete.

“That was 12 years ago,” Ellenwood said of the matter. “We live and learn. (Graham) was my track coach for six months in North Carolina. Since then I’ve dedicated myself to make sure kids don’t make the same mistakes I made.”

Ellenwood, who coached former B-CU hurdler Ronnie Ash to two national championships, was fired by the school Sept. 8, 2009, for “violations of university policy as well as Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and NCAA rules,” according to a statement released by the athletics department to announce the firing of Ellenwood and assistant coach Kia Davis.

Despite these celebrated cases, Ellenwood, was quoted by an AFN source as saying that the USADA suspension would not keep him away from the job of coaching elite athletes or making a return to college coaching. The AFN source added that Ellenwood’s suspension was over and had been cleared to coach again.

He said, “We are very much aware of comments that have been made about Ellenwood by some people, but I can explain away that the AFN president or the federation itself would directly go ahead to hire a coach without due clearance. He is the personal coach of Glory Asunmu and all that he was suspended for happened years back. He served it out by the beginning of 2012 and has been cleared by the USADA to coach again.”

Athletics Fraud of Nigeria (AFN) in World junior scandal

AFN President, Solomon Ogba

Nigerians will remember when I broke the sex scandal in the World junior championship in France (in athletics) last year. I approached the National Sports Commission (NSC) in confidentiality. My confidentiality was betrayed. They pretended they were going to intervene in the matter. Rather, the accused in the case who is the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) invited the athlete (whose name I kept away from the public then and now) to come and be tried in their own court and I screamed blue murder! Reluctantly, they dropped the trial. Nothing happened to that matter. It was swept under the carpet.

I can reveal that the athlete has not only improved her timing in Calabar. She eminently qualified for this year’s World junior but she is not on the list. For God’s sake, is this not discrimination?

So, she has to pay the price of not allowing some useless men old enough to be her father who parade themselves as coaches to sleep with her before she can run for her fatherland.

This is terrible. It is un-Godly. My prayer. For those who perpetrated this, may God in His infinite mercies expose their own daughters to the same type of treatment they are giving this innocent young girl who has worked hard and deserves her honour and integrity. May all they lay their hands on be short-lived like they want to frustrate this young athlete.

Sadly, when I saw the list of the 23 athletes that are to represent Nigeria in the World junior I was shocked beyond my pants. Many of them have no business in that team.

Two, it showed that it is a family business because Yusuf Alli’s wife is the chaperon of the team! Why did the AFN keep the list like a secret cult’s roll call?