By Ben Efe 16.4.2026
Nigeria’s want away sprinter Favour Ofili will not get her wish to switch allegiance to Turkey; the World Athletics has raised ethical concerns effectively killing off her ambition.
The WA said her move to Turkey was financially motivated and a broader strategy by Turkey to recruit foreign athletes with lucrative contracts; and this undermines the integrity of national competitions, discourages countries from developing homegrown talent and risks replacing local athletes with imported competitors. Eight other athletes were also affected by the WA decision.
Ofili is now faced with the choice of returning to Nigeria or quitting track and field after all the uncomplimentary words she had spewed out about the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, but according to the federation’s president Tonobok Okowa, she would be welcome back with open arms.
Okowa stated that the focus now is on providing the right environment for the 100m and 200m star to thrive, stressing that what she needs most from stakeholders is “love, support, encouragement and more love.”
But it is left for the athlete to embrace this opportunity at reviving her career as she looks ahead to the 2028 Olympics Games in Los Angeles…one of her grievances against Nigeria Athletics officials was that she wasn’t allowed to feature in two consecutive Olympics, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 because of technical errors.
AFN technical director Gabriel Okon stated that there would be no room for such errors in the present dispensation.
“We are striving to do things professionally, that is giving the athletes what is due to them, giving them training, maintain discipline in camp and the same time ensuring that all technical issues are resolved amicably,” Okon stated.