The story of Favour Ofili is one filled with bitter-sweet trappings but also loaded with several learning points. However, the lessons to be learnt from this episode are mostly emotional, psychological, sociological and sentimental rather than technical.
I’ve labelled it a ‘favourable failure’ not to mock Ofili, but to buttress a widely held view that she took a drastic step out of anger, frustration, stubbornness and ego; without realising the far-reaching implications of her action. In effect, where she failed to succeed due to her faulty approach, Nigeria is favoured with this historic outcome.
Read Also: Favour Ofili’s Failed Switch From Nigeria To Türkiye Excites Solomon Ogba
Indeed, as a highly reputable athlete, despite missing two straight editions of the Olympic Games, there would have been several tell tale implications (not only for the future of Nigerian athletics but the world at large) if her application for a switch of nationality had been approved by World Athletics.
It would mean every Tom, Dick and Harry (Alice, Beatrice and Susan) would just wake up one day and opt to jump from one country to another at the snap of a finger. Despite the regulation of three years before the switch could be pulled through, many other athletes would simply follow ‘The Ofili Way’ and time their change of allegiance to coincide with the next Olympic Games.
Fortunately for Nigeria, the three-year-proviso attached to changes in nationality for athletes turned out to be the saving grace that turned Ofili’s smart attenpt into a ‘favourable failure,’ because it stopped her from making an ill-thought and spontaneous switch ‘with immediate effect and automatic alacrity.’
That, though, does not mean she was totally wrong in her attempt to pull off the next vexatious escapade by a Nigerian athlete (akin to the stories of Gloria Alozie and Frank Obikwelu). Why they got away with it, Ofili could not – simply because hers was too loud and money was involved (rather than career development).
So, the lesson for Ofili is to never take career steps with a negative mind, out of anger and with pecuniary undercurrents. She even flaunted on social media some money handed her by Türkiye officials as an incentive for her to formalise her expected switch – but that was another wrong move by her.
However, that is not to suggest that Ofili had no strong points in her favour. Won’t we spare some sympathy for her regarding how she was made to miss two editions of the Olympic Games (eight years of her young career) under fishy circumstances? Of course, the pain of neglect, betrayal and feeling of victimisation hit her hard at that point in time.
In effect, the need has now come for top shots of the National Sports Commission (NSC) to look into Ofili’s allegations of witch hunting against her by someone in the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN). It truly is mysterious that someone who made the trip to the Olympiad twice with Team Nigeria could not participate in both ‘on technical grounds.’
However, looking forward brings up more questions. Won’t it be foolhardy to have Ofili back in Nigeria’s athletics squad with the people who are victimising her still in their seats of power? Will she get smooth sailing with her transgressors still holding key posts through which they can frustrate her the more?
Those are piercing questions that should be answered speedily in order to truly justify the verdict by World Athletics, which favours Nigeria but now puts Ofili at the crossroads of her career. Hers truly is a case of torn between the devil and deep blue sea. The next question then is: What should Favour Ofili do?
My simple answer is: Take it in good faith and pick up the pieces. With time, the injury of disappointment will heal. Hopefully, the powers that be in the AFN and NSC will not rub in this victory and use it adversely to their advantage to further harass the hapless lass!
