‘I moved to Turkey to save my career from Nigerian officials’- Favour Ofili

Favour Ofili, the former Nigerian number one women’s sprinter, has explained that her decision to switch allegiance from Nigeria to Turkey last year was driven by a desire to save her athletics career.

Ofili said years of administrative failures by officials of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC) had denied her the chance to compete in two Olympic Games, forcing her to seek opportunities elsewhere.

Speaking through her coach, Dennis Shaver, on Wednesday, Ofili recalled how she was prevented from competing in Japan and later at the Paris 2024 Games despite qualifying. She said:

“Anybody can say anything, but I never heard that Onyali [Mary Onyali] was denied the chance to compete in the Olympics by those who were supposed to look after her. It started in Japan when some of us were stopped from competing because officials failed to do their job. After that, there were no apologies, and people acted as if nothing happened. The same thing happened at Paris 2024, and nothing was done even after a panel was set up to investigate.”

She added that her move to Turkey was not motivated by money but by the need to protect her career from bureaucratic failures.

“I am a woman in a job that has a short lifespan. Soon, I will get married and start thinking of having babies. This is the right time to make good use of the time I have left in my career,” Ofili said.

Coach Shaver emphasized the emotional toll such administrative errors take on athletes, noting that the decision to switch nationality was a difficult but necessary step for Ofili to continue competing at the highest level.

He added that he continues to support Nigerian athletes like Rosemary Chukwuma, Tima Godbless, and others, working with the AFN Performance Director and Athletes’ Liaison to organise opportunities for Nigerian relay teams.

Shaver stated: “Unless someone has walked through the exact pain and disappointment Ofili experienced, it may be difficult to fully understand the weight of her choice.”

Favour Ofili has now joined the Turkish athletics team, which aims to compete strongly in both the 100m and 400m women’s relays at major international competitions.