Femi Adesina said the extension was necessary to allow the President complete the series of medical tests recommended by his doctors and get the results.
Although he said Buhari had already dispatched a letter to the National Assembly on the extension, he did not specify the duration of the extension.
The statement read, “President Muhammadu Buhari has written to the National Assembly today, February 5, 2017, informing of his desire to extend his leave in order to complete and receive the results of a series of tests recommended by his doctors.
“The President had planned to return to Abuja this (Sunday) evening, but was advised to complete the test cycle before returning. The notice has since been dispatched to the Senate President, and Speaker, House of Representatives.
“Mr. President expresses his sincere gratitude to Nigerians for their concern, prayers and kind wishes.”
Buhari had left Nigeria penultimate Thursday for London, United Kingdom, where he was scheduled to undergo medical checkups.
Shortly after he left, there were reports that he had passed on in a London hospital.
The Presidency has since denied the reports.
The Federal Government will soon raise a team of officials to
dialogue with militants in the Niger Delta, Minister of State for
Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, said yesterday.
The minister who spoke when he received traditional rulers from the
Niger Delta in Abuja yesterday noted that some fundamentals must be in
place before peace and development could take place in the oil-rich
region.
The Bolowei of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Dr. Wellington Okirika, who
articulated the position of the monarchs, requested the urgent
constitution of a Federal Government dialogue team, release of 10 school
children arrested by the Nigerian Army in Oporoza and others in
detention camps.
The traditional rulers also requested the return of the golden sword
that is the symbol of authority of the Gbaramatu traditional
institution, return of the three traditional council speed boats in the
custody of the Nigerian Army, cessation of hostilities by the military
and a quick declaration of the Federal Government’s intention for the
reopening of the Maritime University in Okerenkoko, Delta State.
In response, the minister said: “I will take your position to the
president in terms of the speed that is required. We will make every
effort we can to set up a team that would begin to engage and begin to
find out the basis upon which these engagements would happen and see
what can be done.”
Kachikwu noted that over $40 billion had been spent by various
government entities as well as oil companies in the Niger Delta without
any meaningful development in the last 10 years.
His words: “The amount of money that has been put into the Niger
Delta development over the last 10 years is over $40 billion. This comes
from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), derivation fund and
investments by the oil companies. As I go to the creeks, I see no
infrastructure that justifies the massive investments. What this means
is that the Niger Deltans must begin to do soul-searching by asking
themselves: where did the money go? Who took it? What was it applied to?
And what were the roles of our own people and other people as well in
examining how the money was spent?
“Unless we solve the governance and transparency issues surrounding
how the money was spent, it does not matter how much money is put into
the place, we will be heading to square one.”
The minister lamented that two days after the Niger Delta Avengers
issued a statement that it had declared a ceasefire, there was an attack
on an Agip facility in Nembe creeks in the Niboro area where 150,000
barrels of crude oil per day were lost on Monday this week.
Denying plans by the Federal Government to militarise the Niger
Delta, Kachikwu said: “To the best of my knowledge, President Muhammadu
Buhari has shown a lot of patience, and has so far not ordered anyone to
go in massively in a military fashion. He recognises that there is a
need to continue to engage communities towards finding peace. That is
his first model on how to solve the current problems and he has been
consistent with that.”
To him, the solution to the Niger Delta crisis is not in the use of
force of arms by both the militants and the Federal Government. “The
first is to engage, but engagement can only take place when the
environment is conducive enough.
“I think that because the Niger Delta issue has gone on for so long,
it has led to the citadel of brutality of militancy. The region must go
to the negotiation table with the same aggressiveness that has been
applied by the militancy in the creeks. Once a platform for engagement
has been provided, everyone must key into that platform for meaningful
engagement.”
Kachikwu challenged the traditional rulers and other leaders of the
Niger Delta to embark on fact-finding on how $40 billion spent within 10
years failed to engender development of the area.
While he agreed that the demands by the traditional rulers are
desirable, Kachikwu insisted that what is needed immediately is a
developmental process that is agreed for the Niger Delta community which
is long-serving and in which money can be put.
Meanwhile, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) has denied an allegation by
the military that it killed soldiers in Nembe, Bayelsa State.
The militants claimed that those paraded as killers of the soldiers and
alleged to be members of the NDA are well known followers of a former
governor of the state.
The NDA in its latest statement wondered why the Nigerian military
always link crimes in the southern part of the country to the fighters.
The militants also alleged that troops of Operation Delta Safe are
behind the sustained illicit trade in crude oil in the region.
A man who stabbed an American woman to death and injured five other
people in London's Russell Square is a Norwegian of Somali origin,
police said Thursday. They said they have found no signs of
radicalization as a motive.
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said the
investigation "increasingly points to this tragic incident as having
been triggered by mental-health issues."
"So far we have found no evidence of radicalization or anything that
would suggest the man in our custody was motivated by terrorism," Rowley
said.
He said the woman who died was American, and the five injured people
are British, American, Israeli and Australian. None had life-threatening
injuries. Two remain in a hospital, while three others have been
discharged.
Rowley said it appeared to be a "spontaneous attack and that the
victims were selected at random." Detectives from the force's murder and
terrorism squads interviewed the suspect, his family and witnesses and
searched several properties, and found no evidence of radicalization, he
said.
Police put more officers on London streets after the incident, which
came just days after authorities had warned the public to be vigilant in
light of attacks inspired by the Islamic State group elsewhere in
Europe.
Police said they received "numerous" calls from members of the public
at around 10:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. EDT) Wednesday about a man attacking
people with a knife in the streets around Russell Square, a busy central
area full of students and tourists.
Officers used a stun gun to subdue a 19-year-old suspect, who was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Helen Edwards, 33, who lives in the area, came out for a walk late
Wednesday and found armed police near a subway station. In a city with
vivid memories of the July 7, 2005, attacks on public transport — two of
which struck near Russell Square — she immediately suspected that an
attack had occurred.
"There is always that thing in the back of your mind," she said. "You
live with that threat of terrorism or other crimes in the back of your
mind. It wasn't a huge shock I guess."
Ellie Cattle, 21, a student staying in a hotel near the square, said she heard police shouting: "'Put it down, put it down!'
"Then I heard what sounded like a gunshot, but it must have been the
Taser," she said. "After that they just stopped shouting. I didn't hear
any screams from anyone."
London Mayor Sadiq Khan urged the public to keep calm and remain
vigilant, and encouraged people to be the first line of defense against
any form of attack.
"We all have a vital role to play as eyes and ears for our police and
security services and in helping to ensure London is protected," he
said.
Knives are the most common murder weapon in Britain, which has strict
gun-control laws. There were 186 knife killings in the year to March
2015, according to government statistics — a third of all murders.
In the last three years London has seen two knife attacks by people
inspired by radical Islam. In May 2013, two al-Qaida-inspired London men
killed off-duty soldier Lee Rigby in the street near his barracks. In
January, mentally ill Muhiddin Mire tried to behead a London Underground
passenger, shouting that he was doing it "for Syria."
The Russell Square incident came within hours of an announcement by
London police that they were putting more armed officers on the streets.
The idea was to sustain public confidence following attacks by Islamic
State-inspired groups in Europe.
Police in Britain do not carry guns for the most part — a principle
that remains unchanged. Even with the additional armed officers, most of
London's 31,000 police officers will not be armed.
WASHINGTON — If there's one thing the sharply divided nation can agree
on after nearly eight years of President Barack Obama, it is that things
have changed on his watch
Most notably, his appearance.
Even the president has noticed. Opening his speech at the Democratic
National Convention last week, Obama praised his wife Michelle, the
52-year-old first lady, who "somehow hasn't aged a day."
"I know the same cannot be said for me," Obama continued with a
chuckle. Twelve years after a wunderkind 42-year-old Illinois state
senator burst onto the national scene with a youthful vigor and
forward-looking exuberance, the president's once-black hair has gone
nearly fully gray. The creases around his mouth and under his eyes have
grown deeper.
"My girls remind me all the time: 'Wow, you've changed so much,
daddy,' " he said. "And then they try to clean it up. Not bad, just more
mature."
On Thursday, the 44th president turns 55.
It's his final birthday in office, and it comes at a time when Obama
is acknowledging that his own political shelf life is winding down.
Though mid-50s is young for an outgoing commander-in-chief, and he will
presumably enjoy a long, active post-presidency, Obama has grown
increasingly wistful in his final year.
"It's true, I was so young that first time in Boston," he said last
week, reflecting on the speech at the 2004 convention that helped launch
his political rise.
At times on the world stage, Obama has taken on the tone of the
wizened dad, or at least big brother, dispensing advice to a new
generation of younger leaders.
"I had no gray hair when I was in your shoes seven years ago," Obama
told Canada's boyish Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, then 43, during
their first bilateral meeting last November. "You need to start dyeing
it soon because it gets too late."
"So young — and yet so cynical," Trudeau interjected with a laugh.
But the prime minister then revealed what Obama told him during a
congratulatory phone call after Trudeau was elected.
"What Barack pointed out to me about how fast his daughters grew in
the seven years since that first night of his electoral victory really
struck home for me," Trudeau said.
In June, Obama declined an invitation to speak at older daughter
Malia's graduation from Sidwell Friends School, for fear that he might
tear up.
It has become something of a habit for the public to compare before
and after shots of two-term presidents and to fret about how much the
weight of responsibility for the nation's security and prosperity takes
its toll on each occupant of the White House. That pastime has become
accentuated in the social media age; Twitter users bandied about mockups
of the 2004 Obama and the 2016 Obama during his convention speech last
week.
For Obama, the gray hair is so obvious that it has become part of his
stump speech, a way to disarm his audience by poking fun at himself.
But by other measures, he has remained fit and vibrant.
Though he has hung up his basketball sneakers, Obama's morning gym
workouts and frequent golf course outings, along with his famous
personal discipline at the snack table, have left him not just leaner
than he was two years ago — but also, incredibly, taller.
Obama checked in at 175 pounds and 6 feet 1½ inches on his most
recent personal physical — five pounds less and a half-inch taller than
in 2014, according to a medical report released by the White House in
March.
Once a smoker, the president remains tobacco free and only drinks
alcohol in moderation; his bad cholesterol is low and his good
cholesterol is high, the exam found.
"All clinical data indicates that the President is currently very
healthy and that he will remain so for the duration of his Presidency,"
his doctor, Ronny Jackson, concluded.
Obama has used past birthdays to have a date night with the first
lady, raise money for his 2012 campaign and shoot hoops with
professional basketball stars.
This year, though, the president has surrounded himself with friends
from the good old days. Obama was joined on the golf course at Camp
David last weekend by Chicago neighbor Martin Nesbitt, high school pals
Mike Ramos and Bobby Titcomb, and college friends Laurent Delanney and
Hasan Chandoo.
On Thursday, the president is scheduled to hold a private briefing
with his national security team at the Pentagon, followed by a news
conference, before departing on his annual two-week vacation to Martha's
Vineyard on Friday. White House officials declined to say whether he
was planning any birthday celebration.
Even if Obama is suddenly feeling more in touch with his mortality,
he can take some solace that he will be replaced by someone a lot older —
Hillary Clinton is 68 and Donald Trump is 70. But that seems of little
comfort to a president who took office at 47 years old, the
fifth-youngest to assume the White House.
At a forum with students in Kuala Lumpur last fall, Obama called on a
young man who asked the president his advice as someone who "is aging
to a very senior life."
"That's pretty low!" the president interjected.
Yes, the man said, but "what do you want to see from young people like us when you get old? You get my question."
"I got your question," Obama concurred. "Sit down. Well, the first thing I want from young people is to stop calling me old."
Boko Haram's long-time leader Abubakar Shekau has said in an audio
message he is "still around" despite his reported removal as leader of
the Nigeria-based armed group by the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).
ISIL had previously named Abu Musab al-Barnawi as Boko Haram's new leader, prompting the message from Shekau.
"People should know we are still around," Shekau said in the 10-minute message on Thursday.
In an interview published by the ISIL newspaper Al Nabaa on
Wednesday, Barnawi, the ISIL appointee, threatened to bomb churches and
kill Christians while ending attacks on mosques and markets used by
Muslims.
"They strongly seek to Christianise the society. They exploit the
condition of those who are displaced under the raging war, providing
them with food and shelter and then Christianising their children," SITE
Intelligence Group quotes the new leader as saying.
Barnawi said the fighters will respond by "booby-trapping and blowing
up every church that we are able to reach, and killing all of those
(Christians) who we find from the citizens of the cross".
"They strongly seek to Christianise the society. They exploit the
condition of those who are displaced under the raging war, providing
them with food and shelter and then Christianising their children," SITE
Intelligence Group quotes the new leader as saying.
Barnawi said the fighters will respond by "booby-trapping and blowing
up every church that we are able to reach, and killing all of those
(Christians) who we find from the citizens of the cross".
With the Rio 2016 Olympic Games set to
begin on August 5, Team Nigeria are again heading for another
catastrophe at the global games, if preparation for the global
competition is anything to go by.
While countries have finalised their
trainings for the Olympics, Nigeria’s preparations have been in tatters,
since athletes began camping in May in Abuja and Lagos, and it remained
so even until Friday, when the contingent began the trip to Rio in
batches.
The athletes’ trainings were marred by
lack of payment of camp allowances, poor facilities, and poor feeding,
with the Ministry of Youth and Sports complaining of non-release of
funds by the Federal Government, to kick-start preparations for the
games in Brazil.
Whereas the possibility of Nigerian
athletes winning medals in Rio looks vague, some countries have already
set a target for themselves after a well-coordinated preparation
programme. Team Great Britain for instance won 47 medals at the 2008
Beijing Olympics, and then amassed 65 as hosts of the last games in
London in 2012 but they have again set a target of making Rio 2016 their
most successful overseas Olympics by winning 48 medals.
Now, the targeted medals for Team GB is
between 47 and 79, an increase from the 40 to 70 target that was set
before London 2012, when Britain went on to win 65 medals – 29 gold, 17
silver and 19 bronze.
South African Sports Confederation and
Olympic Committee chief executive, Tubby Reddy, while recently
emphasising that their athletes were ready for Rio, said started
training for Brazil four years ago.
D’Tigers
“Preparations for the athletes started
immediately after London 2012. We launched the Operation Excellence
programme to help prepare athletes to get to this stage‚” Reddy said.
Poor preparations
But in Nigeria, the reverse is the case.
In January, sports minister, Solomon Dalung, raised the alarm in Lagos
that the country was planning to fail at the Olympics, and pledged to
stem the tide.
“The last time I received briefing from
the federations, I asked, ‘what is the level of our preparation?’ I was
informed that we are 40 per cent prepared. And I said 40 per cent cannot
give us victory, which means we are planning to fail,” Dalung told
journalists at the National Stadium, Lagos.
But six months later and with just four days to the commencement of Rio 2016, the situation has even become more precarious.
Nigeria will be competing in 10 events
in Rio namely athletics, football, boxing, wrestling, weightlifting,
table tennis, rowing, canoeing, swimming and basketball but preparations
have been anything but satisfactory.
The men’s basketball, D’Tigers, and U-23
football teams arrived in Los Angeles and Atlanta respectively early in
July without money as they prepared ahead of the Olympics.
The Atlanta 1996 gold winning football
side and their 2008 counterparts, who won silver in Beijing, had their
trainings ahead of both Olympics in the US.
The present U-23 team according to their
coach, Samson Siasia, had to resort to begging to make ends meet, with
reports saying they played friendly games wearing different jersey
brands.
Siasia stated, “We actually begged
people for money to take care of the Nigerian Olympic team. How are we
going to win gold, if we keep begging for money to take care of our
athletes?
“We are suffering in Atlanta; we have
not received any money since we arrived this training camp. I have not
been paid for five months. I know that by the time the Olympics will be
over, our monies will not be paid.”
But the Rio-bound team were left to rue their fate after the sports minister distanced himself from their Olympic preparations.
“That our U-23 team is suffering in the
United States is news to me because we do not know what they are there
for. Also we do not know who actually took them to the United States of
America. We are not part of the team’s trip to the USA; we were not told
about the trip, so what they are facing on their trip is not our
business,” Dalung stated.
The case of the basketball team, who
qualified for Rio after winning the FIBA-Africa title for the first time
ever last year, is not different, despite playing test games in the
United States and China. Nigeria Basketball Federation spokesman,
Patrick Omorodion, said they’ve passed through hellish times preparing
under bizarre circumstances for the trip to Rio.
“We are passing through hell, the NBBF
board members had to borrow money here and there to keep the team going.
We also got sponsorship; that’s how the team was able to travel to the
US and play in the Stankovic Cup in China,” Omorodion said.
“The home-based players that were
supposed to join the others in the US couldn’t because there was no
money. The federation owes about N9m because of this.”
During a visit to the Abuja camp, unpaid
and unhappy athletes were seen carrying sullen faces. “The camp is like
a mourning ground. This is one of the worst preparations we’ve had so
far ahead of a major international competition,” an athlete, who pleaded
anonymity, said.
Another athlete also complained about poor feeding.
He stated, “We feed three times a day but it’s the normal rice, beans, moi moi, tea and bread. Is that how we should prepare for a major championship like the Olympics? Are we not supposed to be on a diet?”
At the Lagos camp, athletes complained of poor lighting, leaking roofs and inadequate equipment at their training venue.
“We can’t see ourselves when we train
and if rain falls, we are soaked. The equipment there is not what
athletes going to the Olympics should train with,” he stated.
Unaccounted N2.9bn Olympics money
Dalung has been drawn in a long battle
with ex-Director General of the defunct National Sports Commission,
Alhassan Yalmut, over how the N2.9bn released by the FG for the
participation of Team Nigeria at the 2015 All Africa Games, Youth
Olympics and preparation for the 2016 Olympics was spent.
Dalung insists he is in the dark over
how the money, which should have been used in prosecuting the training
and tours of Team Nigeria ahead of the Rio Games, was spent by Yakmut.
But Yakmut said the minister actually
met a balance of N654m from the released funds, adding that Dalung was
properly briefed on how the money was spent.
Ticket scandal
With the accountability of the N2.9bn
yet unresolved, the Presidency released another N500m two weeks ago to
the sports ministry but a ticket scandal rocked Team Nigeria’s camp
penultimate Saturday, when overseas-based athletes received an e-mail
sent by the Secretary of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria, Bamiduro
Olumide, asking if they could fund their trips to Rio themselves because
of “challenges faced in buying tickets” by the sports ministry.
However, the public outcry that trailed
the ministry’s embarrassing directive, observers believed, forced the
sports minister to rescind the decision.
Dalung refuted the story saying, “The
author of that e-mail lacks the authority to write on behalf of the
ministry or even the Federal Government of Nigeria. At no time did we
ask our athletes to seek for funds to travel knowing too well that
athletes are very fragile people to manage.”
But our correspondent learnt that
Olumide, a staff of the sports ministry, got the nod to send the mail to
the athletes. Our findings showed that Olumide was also directed by the
ministry to send another mail to the athletes to clarify the issue,
which he did; but not before the athletes took to the social media to
source for funds, which further put a dent on Nigeria’s trip to South
America.
US-based Nwanneka Okwelogu, who will
compete in the women’s discus event, opened a handle where she urged
people to click and assist her with funds. She wrote on Twitter, “I really hate to ask, but I’ll appreciate anything! Click here to support. Help me to get to the Olympics.”
Other athletes like Regina George and Seye Ogunlewe, also pleaded for financial assistance, which irked AFN boss Solomon Ogba.
“What has happened is not enough for
Regina George to start asking for money to train and buy ticket to Rio.
Seye Ogunlewe was also calling on Zenith Bank and (Aliko) Dangote to
give him ticket money that is not up to $2000. Seye’s father is a former
minister; can’t he pay for his son? These are professional athletes who
run races and get paid.
“The ticket issue is not a new thing. In
the past, even under Amos Adamu, overseas-based athletes bought their
tickets and got refunded. As a matter of fact, nobody should give money
to the athletes begging for money,”Ogba stated.
But Regina George had received $3,750
out of the $4,000 she was looking for. The quarter-miler tweeted,
“Because of you (donors), many of my teammates and I will be able to
live the Olympic dream; because of you, the Nigerian track and field
federation has found the money to issue my teammates and I tickets to
the Olympics.”
But canoeing athlete Jonathan Akinyemi revealed on Twitter that he paid for his trip to Rio, though hopeful he would be refunded the money by the officials in Rio.
Delay in cash release deliberate?
The country has a long and infamous
history of delaying funds for major global events, only to release them
at the last minute, due to government bureaucracy.
Team Nigeria spent N2.3bn for the 2012
Olympics but the money came too late to have any effect on Nigeria’s
medal chances. The team returned home without a single medal.
Some stakeholders however believe the
late disbursement of funds is a deliberate ploy by corrupt government
officials to ensure that there is no proper documentation of money spent
at these sports events.
“We have so much incompetence in the
system, which doesn’t make us plan ahead. The money that just came out
should have been for the next Olympics in 2020, not this one; money for
Rio should have been released between six to eight years ago, because
that was when the preparations for Rio should have started.” sports
journalist and lawyer, Godwin Dudu-Orumen, said.
“When you look at the corrupt practices
of public office holders, you find out that they deliberately delay the
release of funds, irrespective of the fact that we are not well
prepared, so that when we don’t do well, the argument would now be on
our poor results and not how the money was spent.”
History of poor preparations
The shoddy state of Team Nigeria’s preparations for Rio 2016 is not coming as a surprise to the country’s sports-lovers.
The PUNCH in a story titled
‘Poor preparations: Unending scourge of Nigerian sports’ and published
on December 31, 2013, reported extensively how poor preparations had
cost the country dearly in previous global events.
For instance, Nigeria’s home-based
Eagles coached then by the late Stephen Keshi, had no kits to train with
preparatory to the 2014 African Nations Championship in South Africa,
after supplies meant for the players and officials were given out to top
government officials, girlfriends and close aides of those in charge.
In July, Nigeria’s junior athletics team
to Poland performed woefully without winning a medal amidst complaints
by aggrieved athletes of lack of adequate preparations and poor welfare
package by the authorities.
Even when Nigeria had done well
internationally, it had mostly had to do with the personal preparation
of the athletes and their determination to succeed against the odds.
Police officer Chioma Ajunwa came out
from a four-year drug ban to emerge Nigeria’s first Olympic gold
medalist at the 1996 games in Atlanta. But she passed through agonising
times before told our achieving the feat.
“I was out of sports for four years but
after just five months of training, I won an Olympic gold. It was an act
of God. I still believe I could have won more Olympic gold medals if
the nation had done the right thing,” the multi-talented ex-athlete
said.
“We always believe and deceive ourselves
that the athletes will give us the right results when we have not done
the right thing by preparing well.”
The U-23 football team, which also won
gold at Atlanta, also passed through some nightmarish experiences in the
US just like the present team is doing.
A member of the Atlanta squad, Taribo
West, said, “We were in camp for two months preparing for the Olympics;
we prepared very hard and we won gold. But we passed through rough times
in the US while preparing for the event. Sometimes, we were locked out
of our hotel rooms and had to sleep in the lobby because the hotel bill
had not been paid. Another time, there was no bus to take us to
training.”
Nigeria first competed in the Olympics
in 1952 and has since then participated in 15 editions, having
boycotting the 1976 edition in Montreal, Canada. But the country has
only been able to amass just 23 medals — three gold, eight silver and 12
bronze — largely due to inadequate preparations.
Politicians, civil servants outnumber athletes
While it is confirmed that 86 athletes
will represent Nigeria in Rio, the number of officials to the games is
yet to be made known. Most often, Nigeria’s officials’ delegation to
international championships outnumber that of the athletes, with the
officials pocketing a large chunk of the allowances allocated to them on
such trips, leaving the sportsmen and women to rue their fate.
This year, it’s not been different. In
the last couple of weeks, top and low cadre sports ministry workers at
the National Stadium, Lagos, have virtually turned the cybercafé inside
the arena to their home, in a desperate bid to apply online for visas to
Brazil.
At the London games, Nigeria competed
with just 51 athletes but Ahmed Gara-Gombe, a former Gombe State FA
chairman, said the country wasted millions of Naira on people who
shouldn’t have been there.
Gara-Gombe said, “At the London
Olympics, where we had our worst outing, we had a lot of people who had
no business there but they were there. I saw more than 250 people who
went to London, some with their families.”
“The sports ministry then, with Bolaji
Abdullahi as minister, spent more than $238,000 paying officials
allowances, and spending almost N33m on hotels. These were not athletes;
they were political associates and people who were in the executive and
legislative arms of government. None of them boarded economy class,
they were all on business class and they were lodged in big hotels. I
have records of their names and how much was spent. And we ended up
going there for a jamboree.
“For the Rio Olympics, I have also seen
the list and names of people they think should be part of the
contingent, who have no business there too.”
The Nigeria Football Supporters Club has
also been split over who should be in Brazil and who shouldn’t. The
NFSC chairman, Vincent Okumagba, was recently impeached and suspended by
members of the club, after he was accused of “padding” the list of
supporters that should embark on the trip to Rio.
Our correspondent learnt that 100
members were earmarked for the trip but Okumagba was alleged to have
increased the number to 286, with 90 per cent of those on the list not
members of the supporters club.
It was further learnt that when the
supporters’ list got to the sports ministry, an additional 96 names
found their way into the list.
Failure looms in Rio
At the 2012 Olympics,Team Nigeria
competed in eight sports namely athletics, weightlifting, taekwondo,
boxing, wrestling, table tennis, canoeing and basketball but failed to
win a single medal.
Bolaji Abdullahi, then sports minister,
said events that have played out since four years ago point to another
colossal failure for Team Nigeria in Brazil.
In a paper titled ‘From London to Rio:
What has changed?’ delivered at the African Sport Management Association
Seminar on June 16 in Abuja, Abdullahi stated, “London was not the
first time we would be returning from the Olympics empty-handed. It
happened in 1988 at the Seoul Olympics. The issues that led to our
fantastic failure in Seoul were the same issues that led to our failure
in London and almost definitely, Rio later this year.”
Former Green Eagles striker, Segun
Odegbami, also wrote off the country’s medal chances, saying the country
was once again going to complete the numbers in Rio.
The 1980 Africa Cup of Nations winner wrote in his column in Complete Sports,
“Medals are not won by fire brigade last minute funding of preparations
to the Olympics. Winning a medal at such games requires proper
scripting, planning and disciplined execution of programmes for between
six to eight years of dedicated hard work and plenty of good luck.
Nigeria has not done anything since London 2012 to even justify winning a
wooden medal, not to talk of bronze, silver or gold.”
Nigerians hopeful amidst poor preparations
Despite the controversy-tainted
preparations, Nigerians are hopeful that the determination and fighting
spirits of the athletes would see one or more of their own climb on the
podium in Rio.
“The good thing about this is that the
basketball players are not bothered about what is happening or whether
they are paid allowances or not. They are happy to play in the Olympics
wearing Nigeria’s colours,” Omorodion said.
Ogba is banking on New Jersey-born shot
put thrower, Stephen Mozia, who has been in fine form this season, to
stun the world in Rio.
“In Mozia, we have a medal prospect.
He’s among the best three this year and with the form he is exhibiting,
he will do well in Rio. There are others as well,” Ogba stated
Sports journalist, Shola Rogers said,
“We are probably going to win a medal or two in Rio, but it’s not a
reflection of how we prepared for the games. Unfortunately, it’s the
officials who claim the glory when the athletes put up fine outings.”
Bola Olanipekun, a sports follower, who
runs a sports viewing centre, is praying for a good outing for Nigeria,
saying it will enhance his business prospects.
“I have been advertising and urging
people to watch the Olympics in my centre. If Nigeria does well, I will
make a lot of money during the period. So, I’m praying for the team to
succeed.”
But Dudu-Orumen believes Team Nigeria is set for another monumental failure at the Olympics.
“Rio is going to be a disaster for
Nigeria like the London Olympics. We had boxers training with bare
knuckles and wrestlers who ate Agege bread and Agoyin beans. I don’t know how you are going to win medals with such athletes,” Dudu-Orumen said.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has withdrawn the
list of recommended candidates for admission earlier sent to tertiary
institutions.
The examination body on Sunday explained that the decision was to
ensure that the Senate of Universities perform their statutory
responsibility of conducting the selection of candidates and refer it to
JAMB for confirmation in line with the admission criteria of merit,
catchment and educationally disadvantaged states as directed by the
Minister of Education, Alhaji Adamu Adamu, at the policy committee
meeting.
The statement, signed by Dr. Fabian Benjamin, said the earlier list
was sent to help fast track the process of admission so as to allow
other tiers of institutions also conduct their admission.
“Candidates should not panic because this is part of the process of
the 2016 admission exercise. JAMB regrets any inconvenience this
decision would have caused the tertiary institutions.
“The Board regrets any inconvenience it’s proactive step would have caused the tertiary institutions,” the statement added
