Sports Entrepreneur and Chairman of Gombe State Athletics Association Hon. Ahmed Shuaib Gara-Gombe have called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sack Sports Minister Sen. John Enoh over the exclusion of top athlete, Favour Ofili from the 100m event at the Paris Olympic Games, describing it as a national embarrassment.
Gombe in a press statement suggested that President Tinubu should impose serious sanctions on the Sports Minister Sen.Enoh, President of Nigeria Olympic Committee, Habu Gumel (NOC) and President of Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN)Tonobok Okowa for embarrassing the country in the ongoing Olympics.
According to Gara-Gombe, “Favour Ofili not listed for the 100m event at Olympics is most unfortunate and a serious embarrassment to our nation, also an embarrassment to Mr President and to all sports stakeholders”
Gara-Gombe was aware of the initial reactions from the Minister of Sports and also read statements and reactions on his X handle, saying that he did not expect such statements from a Minister.
“The negligence, Inefficiency, and corruption that has eaten deeply into Nigerian Sports are the root cause of this.The sports Minister unfortunately has promoted corruption in the sports sector that’s why we find ourselves in this mess in AFN. Since the Minister took office, he has refused to listen to those who would tell him the truth and the true situations of Nigerian Sports,” Gombe wondered why the Sports Minister was pushing the blame on AFN and NOC.
“Yes these Federations should take the blame, but as the number one sports administrator in the country, he should take all the blame. I put the blame entirely on the doorstep of the Minister. He cannot claim ignorance of the rot in the Athletics Federation. In fact, the Ofili case is just an insignificant fraction of the rot, corruption and inefficiency that is going on in the Athletics Federation”
Gara-Gombe in his lengthy statement said what happened to Ofili in the Olympics was enough for the Sports Minister, AFN and NOC leaders to resign for failing the country.
“By now the Sports Minister Sen. John Enoh, NOC President, Habu Gumel and of course, AFN president, Tonobok Okowa should have resigned immediately because they brought serious embarrassment to the country. From what had happened in Paris, it would be difficult for the Minister to take any action. If he is to act now, Gumel and Okowa should be recalled and sent back home,” he said.
Gombe said what happened to Ofili in the ongoing Olympics may have psychological effects on Team Nigeria and insisted that Sen Enoh must be sacked or redeployed to another Ministry.
“Why is it that nobody cares about the psychological effects this action would have on Ofili’s state of mind because she is going to represent Nigeria in other events.
“Mr President has done everything possible in providing the funds for the Team Nigeria ahead of the Olympics and every kobo we asked in sports has been provided although the Minister has failed to account for it when we asked,” the statement reads.
The former Gombe United Football Club Chairman insisted that the Sports Minister should resign for the embarrassment he caused Nigeria in the Olympics.
“Should the minister fail to resign, Mr President should sack him immediately. And if Mr president is not ready to sack him, then, we would go to court and request that the minister be sacked. I don’t care about NOC or AFN but I am concerned about the Sports Minister because he is the architect of this Problem.
“If Sports Minister’s statements on his X handle are anything to go by, it’s very embarrassing, talking about Nigeria is not the only country having issues similar to Ofili’s case should not have been uttered. He even said that AFN and NOC Presidents have not rested or relented since Ofili’s issue came to light is uncalled for.
“When they were supposed to work, they were resting. I feel they are resting now. If you investigate carefully, the former AFN and now defacto president, Solomon Ogba has destroyed AFN in the past and he is also the same man dictating the pace in AFN.
“Ogba, a friend of Engineer Gumel has a free reign between Gumel and Okowa. He heads a committee in NOC and is almost 90% in charge of AFN. His disastrous poor handling of AFN in his 8 years tenure has been brought back, misleading and misguiding Okowa” the statement said.
Gara-Gombe however urged President Tinubu to set up a committee to look into the Ofili case and whoever was found guilty should be brought to book.
“We have a lot of work to do, if all principal actors in this Ofili case fail to resign, Mr President should sack the Sports Minister or send him to another Ministry. The Minister has taken wrong steps so far in all his decisions and Engineer Gumel and Okowa should immediately return to Nigeria, they don’t have the moral right to occupy the global space,” the statement concluded.
