A fresh wave of outrage has escalated among Nigerians following reports that the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has decided to send more sports officials than athletes to the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
This development saw Nigeria without any athlete representative for the relay team.
According to reports, Nigeria submitted a bloated delegation of sports administrators, while athletes who had automatically qualified for individual events were shockingly excluded from the final team list of those participating at the 2025 championships in Tokyo, kicking off today, Saturday, September 13, 2025, at the National Stadium in Tokyo.
It was gathered that athletes left out include: Kelly Ufodima (200m), Tima God-Bless (100m & 200m), Ella Onojuvwevwo (400m), and Temitope Adeshina (High Jump).
A sports analyst, Ifeoluwa Leo, who first raised the alarm, accused the AFN and NSC of embarking on a “jamboree” at public expense while abandoning their core responsibility to Nigerian athletes.
He wrote: “Officials of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria(AFN) and the National Sports Commission (NSC) are currently on a Jamboree to Tokyo whilst trying so hard to justify their estacode.
“Attempts at tactical maneuver and a desperate effort to hoodwink the public have made the AFN and NSC go to the media to cover up for their gross administrative incompetence.
“They are not telling us more officials than athletes travelled to Tokyo, and they are actually the ones going on a Jamboree despite multiple failures to do their job in ensuring athletes made it to the 2025 World Relays.
“As a result, Nigeria will not be fielding any relay team at the 2025 World Athletics Championships, but that hasn’t affected their Jamboree trip and estacode, which they are more interested in defending.
“In an apparent bid to control the damage, officials had earlier told the media that only 15 athletes were travelling because “it is no longer the era of jamboree.”
However, Ifeoluwa said this was a deliberate attempt to mislead the public and conceal the fact that administrators outnumbered athletes in Tokyo.
He added: “So instead of being honest about how their failures cost these athletes an opportunity on the global stage, they are busy trying to insult our collective intelligence by going to the media with a misleading narrative that only 15 athletes are going because it’s no longer the era of Jamboree.
“The support for our athletes is the only reason we are watching the Tokyo25 event, not because of these self-serving, estacode chasing, Inept officials who have no iota of shame left in them.”
The development also comes as World record holder and reigning 100m hurdles champion, Tobi Amusan publicly criticised the AFN for providing what she described as substandard and inadequate kits to athletes ahead of the 2025 World Athletics Championship in Tokyo.
In a video posted on Snapchat, Amusan, said: “As it is now, I have to wear an adidas black tight. I’m going to show you what Jamaica is using. When I tell you say Jamaica is in the same WhatsApp group with Nigeria, but dem no worse like Nigeria. In Nigeria, all the other countries give their athletes two kits. See what Nigeria gave us. This country (Nigeria) is really embarrassing.”
These developments have sparked outrage among Nigerians, with many calling on the Federal Government to investigate the matter and bring the offenders to book.
Below are some of the reactions;
