The Athletics Federation of Nigeria has trashed a trending report stating that 40 athletes that represented the country at the 2024 African Senior Athletics Championships travelled by night bus from Nigeria to Douala, Cameroon, the venue of the event rounded off earlier this week, as per a report
David Doherty, an aspirant in the last Nigeria Football Federation presidential election, shared a post on his Facebook page on Friday that took a swipe at AFN for not only disrespecting the globally acclaimed athletes but also exposing them to security risks.
“I can confirm to you that a night bus conveyed 40 of Nigeria’s most valuable athletes from Benin City to Benin Republic en route to Douala, Cameroon, for the CAA Senior Africa Championships.
These and 26 other national treasures were subjected to such gruesome treatment a few weeks before the Olympics, when they should ideally be given the best of care to keep them in shape for the world’s biggest athletic event.
Yet we will hear the minister and AFN come on air to mention them as medal hopefuls despite this atrocious treatment of athletes.
The 4x400m ladies lost out on the Olympic qualification due to gross ineptitude on the part of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria.
The stories from that Federation will make your stomach turn.
This is not the first time we have heard about the unfair management of our ambassadors, but the more we keep quiet, the worse they get treated,” read a part of the post that left a rash of stinging comments by Nigerians.
AFN, through its media officer, Gowon Akpodonor, quashed the claim as he explained Team Nigeria’s travel plans in a telephone conversation on Saturday morning.
He said, “Do they take bus to Douala? You either go there by air or by sea. The plan was to charter Air Peace to convey the contingent from Benin City, but that couldn’t happen due to a paucity of funds.
The athletes were then advised to converge on Lagos and travelled to Cotonou, Benin Republic, where they travelled to Douala on Air Cameroon.
As you know, Air Cameroon doesn’t come to Nigeria, so the only option was to travel to Cotonou and board the flight to Duoala.”
Team Nigeria won five gold, six silver, and four bronze to finish third with a total of 15 medals behind South Africa, who led the pie with a total of 20 medals (seven gold, five silver, and eight bronze), while Kenya came second with 19 medals (five gold, seven silver, and seven bronze).
The next edition of the African Senior Athletics Championships will take place at University of Ghana, Accra, in 2026.
Olaitan Ibrahim