July 11, (THEWILL) – The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has been rocked by a petition from the Nigerian Athletics Athletes’ Commission (NAAC), accusing the Organising Committee of the National Trials of mismanaging the competition.
The trials, which were used to choose the nation’s representatives at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, United States, and the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Benin City, Edo State, from June 20 to June 25.
The NAAC chairman, Dr Henry Chinedu Okorie and the athletes joined in the complaint, claimed in a petition to the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, dated June 28, that Solomon Ogba treated the NAAC leadership and the players with “great disdain” throughout the period of the national trials in Benin City.
In the petition itself, the NAAC were unambiguous about their displeasure with the organisation and why they believed the trials did not produce the best athletes to represent the country. It began: “It is worthy I bring to your notice that, with all your efforts to make sure we have the best, what we eventually got is very displeasing.”
They requested for the Minister to “investigate the organisation of the trials in Benin City, with emphatic interest on the treatment of the NAAC leadership and athletes’ general welfare” and asked Dare to “use your good office and swiftly resolve this problem in good time.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
