Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in 2023, has berated the federal government over Nigeria’s poor outing at the Olympics in Paris, France.
In a series of posts on X on Sunday, Obi expressed his
displeasure with the team’s failure to win a “single medal” despite the “huge
financial investment”.
Obi said the N12 billion earmarked for this year’s Olympics
“is almost twice the amount budgeted for the entire Ministry of Science and
Technology”.
“Now that the Paris Olympics 2024 has officially ended and
our dear Team Nigeria, despite the huge financial investment made into the
project, is returning without a single medal, let me unreservedly register my
displeasure with the performance of our team and their handlers,” Obi said.
“The rascality and
recklessness that has continued to characterise leadership in our nation in
nearly every department.
“The general impression that has come to stick is the one
that portrays our country as a joke, even on the international stage.
“How can one explain that a country like Jamaica spent less
than 5% of what we spent on our contingents for the Paris Olympics 2024 and won
as many as 6 medals.
“Yet with our huge
financial investments and large contingent, we could not win even a single
medal?”
He frowned at the “reckless” removal of Favour Ofili’s name
from the team by some officials despite training for the Olympics.
“This is over N136 million (about $85,000) spent on each of
the 88 Nigerian contingents to the Olympics, and no single medal was won while
Jamaica, a nation which spent far less than we did, a total of about $2300 on
each contingent, won 6 medals; 1 Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze at the Olympics,”
he said.
“Let us consider the case of Favour Ofili, a Nigerian
professional sprinter who trained for years for the 2024 Olympics, only for her
name to be recklessly and wrongly removed from the list of athletes for the
100m race at the Olympics by Nigerian sporting authorities.
“What explanation can
anyone give about Annette Echikunwoke, a former Nigerian hammer thrower, who
was frustrated by the same rascality of some Nigerian leaders, making her
switch her allegiance to the United States, where she eventually won a medal in
the just completed Olympics?
“These same professional athletes were denied the
opportunity to represent our nation in Tokyo 2020, for similar reasons of
administrative recklessness.
“What a country! What a shame! When do we stop these
rascalities that always rob our nation of golden opportunities to make a
positive change?”
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