AIU Queries AFN Over Age Discrepancies Of 4 Nigerian Athletes

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of World Athletics (WA) has queried the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) over discrepancies in the ages of four Nigerian athletes, demanding an explanation on the multiple ages of the athletes who are eligible to compete in August’s World U20 Championships in Lima, Peru.

The AIU, in a letter dated June 7, 2024 and addressed to AFN president, Tonobok Ojuru Okowa, and secretary-general, Rita Moshindi, said it “has identified discrepancies regarding the date of birth (DOB) for at least 4 Nigerian athletes”, noting “each of these athletes has at least two, and sometimes three or more different DOBs which have been used to enter competitions at different times.”

The body saddled with ensuring the integrity of athletics said it “is not aware of any reason why the athletes appear to have completely different, multiple DOBs. It is also not clear whether the identification documents submitted by the athletes (such as passports) are true or whether they have been forged or falsified.”

The letter, which was signed by Brett Clothier, head of the Athletics Integrity Unit, gave AFN until Friday, June 21, 2024, to respond to the query.

When contacted, AFN secretary-general, Rita Moshindi, said the affected athletes have responded to the query and they were waiting for the outcome of AIU’s investigation.

“AIU as the name implied, is an integrity body and it is legal matter. The affected athletes have responded and nobody is allowed to comment or say anything on the issues until the reports of their investigation are out,” Moshindi told LEADERSHIP Sports.

The AIU demanded from the AFN to submit, inter-alia, the athletes current passport, all previous passports, birth certificate, national ID card, documents submitted in support of passport applications, medical records, including hospitalization records, dental records, vaccination records as well as education records including matriculation records, school end-of-term/year reports ad school examination results, among others.

The AFN was also expected to furnish the AIU with any correspondence between the athletes and the federation regarding their dates of birth.

One of the athletes is male and was a double champion in the U18 category at the African U18/U20 Championships last year in Ndola, Zambia while the remaining three are females viz a sprinter, an hurdler and a long/triple jumper.

One of the female athletes had three different dates of birth while the male had 2004 and 2006 dates of birth.

Two of the athletes had different dates of birth in the AFN entry list for two of the federation’s competitions (in 2019 and 2021) but were registered by the federation with another dates of birth for the African U18/U20 championships in 2023.