(OPINION) Paris Olympics: Peter Obi, stop showboating as your poor sports policies in Anambra drove Nasser to Bahrain

By OLUKAYODE THOMAS

Since his foray into partisan politics, Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, has been consistent in two areas: being stingy with the truth and ridiculing himself by mixing up facts and figures due to his hatred for fact-checking.

Penultimate Saturday and last Monday, Obi criticized the poor outing of Team Nigeria at the Paris Olympic Games and concluded that the country needs the right leaders to provide the right environment for our sportsmen and women to thrive.

Obi also said the performance of Nigeria-born Yemisi Ogunleye, and Salwa Eid Nasser (formerly Ebelechukwu Agbapuonwu) was a testament that the country is not lacking in talent.

If Obi had checked, he would have realized that Ogunleye was born in Germany and she decided to represent the country of her birth.
With further checks, he would have saved himself from embarrassment because Nasser dumped Nigeria for Bahrain because of Anambra State’s poor treatment of athletes when he was the Executive Governor.

How poor welfare for athletes under Obi pushed Nasser to Bahrain

After winning the gold medal for Bahrain at the 2019 World Athletics World Championship in Doha, many Nigerians called Nasser a traitor who placed pecuniary gains over patriotism.

But her father, Ogujiofor Agbapuluonwu, an engineer, told Ben Efe then of the Vanguard Newspapers that Nasser dumped Nigeria with his blessings because of Anambra’s awful treatment of athletes.

Said Agbapuluonwu: “I’m the happiest man on earth following my daughter’s achievements.

“I have nothing to say to those who question her decision. They should rather blame the country’s sports officials for the circumstances that led to her teaming up with Bahrain.”

Agbapuluonwu recalled how his daughter was almost frustrated out of the sport.

Nasser started representing Anambra State at the 2013 National School Sports in Port Harcourt. She also ran in the National Youth Games in Ilorin.

“Do you know that she came from Ilorin that year looking mentally and physically drained? How can a young athlete be subjected to such frustrations?

“When she came back from Ilorin she told me how they were made to sleep inside a bus and then early in the morning around 4.00 am they woke them up to take their bath in the open when it was still dark so that nobody would see their nakedness.

“Anambra State couldn’t afford to put the kids in a decent accommodation. Ebele and the others were supposed to be well-fed and rested so they could wake up strong. They were made to sleep in a bus, imagine such a thing.

“She came back from Ilorin feeling so sick and I had to take her to the hospital to treat her myself. Not even a show of concern from the sports officials for an athlete who won gold. She also went to Calabar to compete and also fell ill and I had to take her to several places for treatment and proper care.

“She was gradually recovering when the offer from Bahrain came. And I had no choice but to let her go. There was no way I could have stood in her way,” said Agbapuluonwu.

If Obi, his commissioner, and other officials had prioritized athletes’ welfare, the silver medal Nasser won for Bahrain at the Paris Olympics would have been won for Team Nigeria.

Not just Nasser, Sports under Obi in Anambra was a disaster

But it was not just a lack of concern for athletes’ welfare. For the eight years that he ruled Anambra, Obi did not deem it fit to lay a single tartan track in a state that produced great athletes like Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Innocent Egbunike, Mary Onyali, and the likes of Francis Obikwelu, Uche Emedolu, and many others.

Chris Ngige, who was the governor before Obi, started stadium projects but unfortunately, Obi altered everything that Ngige did.

The stadium projects have provisions for a training pitch, basketball courts, hockey and volleyball pitches, a standard swimming pool, tartan tracks, and hostels.

But Obi ignored expert advice and he said all Anambra needed was a mini stadium at Justice Chuba Ikpeazu and Godwin Achebe Stadiums.

When they insisted that there is nothing mini about a stadium and that the pitch, the tartan tracks, and any other facility must be standard; that only the capacity can be mini, he ignored them.

What he ended up giving Anambra were ‘mini-stadiums’ without dressing rooms, and the tartan tracks were six instead of eight lanes. Under him, sports in Anambra went backwards instead of forward.

Under Obi, sports infrastructure was so poor in Anambra that the state could not host a proper State Sports Festival not to mention the National Sports Festival.

Under Obi, people had to rely on private sports establishments like Power Mike Sports Centre in Ogbaru, Rojenny Sports Complex in Oba, Poly Emenike Sports Complex, and Ifeanyi Ubah Stadium in Nnewi.

While the likes of Nasser moved to Bahrain, those who could not go abroad dumped Anambra for states like Rivers State.

It wasn’t until Willy Obiano became the governor that he laid tartan track at the Rojenny, this enabled Anambra to host its first National Athletics Championship.

Obiano’s Commissioner of Sports described Obi’s performance in sports as shameful.

Obi’s comparison of Jamaica and Nigeria shows he is a neophyte in sports

Obi also goofed when he said that Jamaica, with a fraction of Nigeria’s budget, secured six medals.

This shows that Obi is a neophyte in sports.

It is not just Obi that is guilty of the above, most of the past governors in Nigeria and the many Sports Ministers do not understand how sports work.

Jamaica’s investment in the six medalists started from primary school at probably age five.

By the time they are between the ages of 11 and 15 years old, they will have been able to identify the ones that will excel and continue to invest heavily in them to ensure that they become global championships by ages 19 to 25 years.

So the money spent on the eve of the Olympic Games is nothing compared to what they have been spending since primary school days.

If you calculate what Jamaica spends to produce an Olympic medalist, it will dwarf what Nigeria spends in their fire brigade approach.

If Obi and his fellow governors had emulated the Jamaican model, Nigeria would be producing medalists like the USA and China.

Obi should look at St. Lucia – a country of less than 200,000 people – that produced Julian Alfred, the Fastest Woman in the World and a silver medalist in the 200m.

St. Lucia started investing in Alfred in primary school. When they realized her potential, they sent her to Jamaica and later the USA.

So the country’s investment is not just the investment on the eve of the games. If Obi had embraced this culture, Nasser would have won medals for Nigeria and Anambra today.

Obi’s poor knowledge of sports is particularly worrying. In 2022 Obi said that out of the 150 players playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) League, almost 100 are Nigerians.

I wonder what Americans and lovers of basketball around the world will think of the acumen of one of our presidential candidates.

Obi is right about incompetence but Reno Omokri may be right that he is the Minister of Bad News

Obi was right in his condemnation of Nigeria’s preference for nepotism over competence especially in the selection of officials.

The NOC left some of our best officials and coaches and went with incompetent ones.

In the knowledge of sports and ethics, Innocent Egbunike is one of the best athletics coaches in the world today.

An Olympics and World Championships medalist and among the top three in the world in 400m at the peak of his career, Egbunike has coached Nigerian sprinters to run sub-10.00 and quarter-milers’ men and women to run sub-45.00 seconds and sub-50.00 seconds. He has also coached Nigerian athletes to win the gold, silver, and bronze medals at major games and championships.

Egbunike’s achievements are not limited to Team Nigeria. He has coached athletes from Great Britain, the USA, Congo, Senegal, Jamaica, Bahamas, and other countries to win gold, silver and bronze medals in the Olympics and the World Championships. But today he is not wanted in Team Nigeria.

Why? Because he will not allow officials to interfere in his job, he will not allow officials to select relay teams for him, and he will not tolerate unruly behaviour by athletes.

But apart from the above, Obi needs a refresher course in fact-checking.

And if what he has been doing in the last 14 months is to malign Bola Tinubu’s government then one can conclude that Obi is a sore loser and agree with Reno Omokri that he is Minister of Bad News.

Obi must embrace fact-checking and stop embarrassing himself and Nigerians. He should realise public discussions are not show boasting but serious business that should be taken seriously.

OLUKAYODE THOMAS is a multiple award winning journalist and presently the publisher of 234sportsng.com

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