By Daily Sports on September 9, 2017

 Former President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Evangelist Solomon Ogba, has taken a swipe at former Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi, insisting that the Federal Government must probe the Abuja N3billion High Performance Centre.

Ogba said the call then by Abdullahi for his sack for non-performance was a mere cover up, insisting that “Bolaji Abdullahi remains the major architect of the problems haunting Nigerian sports till this moment, and athletics in particular.”

“It is on record that Bolaji Abdullahi was the first Minister of Sports to stop giving subventions to sports federations. He crippled the operations of the various federations by starving them of funds. Some could not even afford a photocopy machine or internet service in their offices.”

He recalled that it was during Abdullahi’s reign as Sports Minister that the government of President Goodluck Jonathan approved the establishment of a High Performance Centre. “After the London Olympics, President Goodluck Jonathan, alarmed by the level of failure of Team Nigeria, which returned without a medal, held a Presidential retreat on sports.

The establishment of a High Performance Centre was recommended, which the President approved.

“N3 billion was requested for the project but an initial N1.5billion was released. Some money was released again for the project before the end of Jonathan’s administration. What happened to that money?” Ogba asked, insisting that the Federal Government must probe the High Performance Centre project. He accused Abdullahi of employing a rookie as coach for the Centre, which was supposed to handle elite athletes for international competitions.

He also revealed that Abdullahi singled-handedly employed a coach, who had never been to the Olympics, Eric Campbell as one of the coaches in charge of athletics, adding that it was wrong to employ such a man for such a high-calibre centre.” Looking back at the performance of Team Nigeria athletes at the last Olympics in Brazil, Ogba groaned and painfully said Nigeria could not have won anything based on the preparations the athletes had before the games.“The High Performance Centre project was messed up and the huge money gone to the winds till this moment.

“It would be recalled that before the last Olympics, I told the press that Nigeria won’t win medals in Rio. I did not rule out the element of luck, but if by our preparations alone, I said it categorically clear that we were not prepared well enough for medals. We lacked the cutting edge,” the former AFN boss said.

•Photo shows Ex-AFN President, Evangelist Solomon Ogba.

Source Daily Sports

Posted September 9, 2017

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