The minister of youth and sports development, Sunday Dare and President of Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Tonobok Okowa are expected to grace the unveiling ceremony of two of Nigeria’s brightest and best track and field stars, Tobi Amusan and Ese Brume as Primus Trust Bank Brand Ambassadors.
The unveiling ceremony holds today at Eko Hotels and Suites and the duo of Dare and Okowa have superintended over the brightest moments of Nigerian athletics.
Dare restored order in the AFN after his appointment as Sports Minister in 2019 and through his various projects, particularly the adopt an athlete initiative laid the foundation for the renaissance of sports in Nigeria, especially athletics.
Dare provided the enabling environment for the AFN to rise again after its self-made crisis between 2017 and 2019 and this led to the election of Okowa as President of the federation.
Since Okowa and the new executive board of the AFN assumed leadership of the federation, the profile of the federation has risen in geometrical proportion.
Both Amusan and Brume played huge roles in the federation’s rising profile.
Brume won a bronze at the delayed Tokyo Olympics to ensure Nigeria’s return to the podium at the quadrennial games 13 years after the country last did.
Amusan also made history when she became the first Nigerian to win a Diamond League discipline at the Diamond League final in Zurich last year.
This year, Brume also ensured Nigeria’s return to the podium at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, 14 years after Olusoji Fasuba won a medal at the competition.
The duo also made history at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA in July.
While Amusan became the first Nigerian athlete to win a world outdoor title and set a world record, Brume became the first Nigerian to win medals at two separate editions of the championships.
It was an Amusan and Brume show again at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham as they became the first Nigerian track and field athletes to win individual medals at two editions of the Games.
Amusan became the first Nigerian track and field athlete to successfully defend a Commonwealth Games title, Brume became the first athlete in competition history to hit the 7m mark in the long jump event.
Both achieved their golden runs at the Games in record breaking fashion.
Amusan ran a new 12.30 seconds Games record to win the 100m hurdles title while Brume leapt a distance of 7.00m to win the long jump title.
