President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, Tonobok Okowa, has said Favour Ofili cannot be stopped from switching allegiance to another country if she decides.
Okowa, in a statement, noted that it would be painful to lose Ofili to another country, but the federation acknowledged her desire to represent Turkiye.
Okowa’s response followed Sunday reports that she had written to the Athletics Integrity Unit for a change of nationality.
The 22-year-old 150-meter world record holder is said to have come to this conclusion after her experience in recent international competitions where the Athletics Federation of Nigeria failed repeatedly.
The Federation failed to include her name in the women’s race at the 2024 Paris Olympics after she already qualified.
Ofili participated in the 200m – she reached the final and finished sixth.
She also missed out of the Tokyo 2020 after the Federation failed to meet mandatory anti-doping requirements for her and nine other athletes.
Okowa, however, noted that Ofili is yet to inform the federation that she wants to represent another nation, and the World Athletics website still registered her as a Nigerian athlete.
“If this is true, it is sad, disheartening and painful but we are yet to get any official statement from her or any correspondence from World Athletics (WA), on her request. She is a promising athlete with huge potential,” he said..
“The AFN and the National Sports Commission (NSC) have been working hard to get athletics and other sports in the country back on track and to show that both bodies are matching goals, objectives and words with action. Favour Ofili had already been paid her training grant for this year.
“From the moves we have been making to get her fully prepared and back to the big athletics family, and her response, it’s also clear that she had been preparing and working on her newfound Turkish love. She is old enough to decide what’s best for her, but it’s painful and hard to take for us; however, we will not stop her. She is still our child, sister and daughter.”
He added that the Ofili is “difficult to deal with”, noting that she’s “shunned the national trials, and even when she came, she selected the events she preferred to compete in”.
The federation ended that stating by “wishing her well” in whatever career decision she decides to take.
