Team Ekiti has introduced their new uniforms during the ongoing National Youth Games in Asaba, marking a corrective action after a regrettable display at the opening ceremony. During the opening ceremony, images of Ekiti athletes wearing mismatched clothing and flip-flops over white T-shirts circulated online, drawing negative attention.
These new kits will be worn by the athletes during the closing ceremony scheduled for Saturday. In parallel, the Ekiti State House of Assembly has initiated an inquiry into the uniform scandal that created turmoil in the state’s camp in Asaba, Delta State’s capital.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Youths and Sports, Idowu Odebunmi, expressed the House’s disappointment with the sports council officials’ neglect, which led to the state’s misrepresentation.
Odebunmi, who said at the Parliamentary Session on Tuesday evening that the probe was initiated to ensure accountability, transparency, and adherence to standards in representing Ekiti State, assured that the House would follow it to a logical conclusion.
The committee, however, directed the state’s sports council general manager, Adekuble Adeyemi, to come back with all his senior officials upon their return from the event.
The chairman stated that the committee’s report would be submitted to the House after the conclusion of its investigation for further legislative action.
Adeyemi, who was recalled from the games following the outcry in Ekiti that greeted the kits scandal, apologized for the embarrassment caused the state at the opening ceremony.
The GM, however, stated that the sports council would continue to do its best to move sports forward in Ekiti.
He thanked the Governor Biodun Oyebanji administration for support to the sports council, stating that N20m was promptly approved for the Games by Governor Oyebanji, less than 24 hours after submitting the approval.
Meanwhile, following the show of shame, more revelations have emerged on the poor preparations of the contingent ahead of the Games, IWITNESSLIVE reports.
The IWITNESSLIVE learned from sources within the team’s camp in Asaba and Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, that the 100 athletes representing the state were not camped before the Games while they had poor or no facilities to train at all.
The athlete’s shabby outfits led to the General Manager of Ekiti State Sports Council, Adekunle Adeyemi, being recalled by Governor Biodun Oyebanji on Sunday, while the Ekiti State House of Assembly also summoned him and top officials in the sports council to appear before it on Tuesday (today).
While the sports council boss and his officials are under fire, the athletes have continued their business in Asaba by progressing in their respective events.
Golfer Abdulrahman Fatai won the first gold medal for the state in the golf event on Monday. They won their second gold in golf courtesy of Abdulrahman Mustapha, the younger brother of Abdulrahman Fatai. The younger Abdulrahman defeated his counterpart from Borno in the final. His elder brother, Fatai, also won a silver medal for the state in golf as well.
Some of their other athletes have also dazzled in the table tennis and handball events at the early stages of the competition but their inadequate preparations might cut short their potential, according to an official.
“We had no camping at all before the Games. There was nothing to prepare us for the games and the athletes are just being paid part of their allowances, days after we arrived here (Asaba),” the official told The IWITNESSLIVE.
“There was even no provision for kits during the opening ceremony. The state has a color and they used to provide ceremonial wears for that purpose, that has been the tradition, but athletes had to wear different kinds of pants and slippers with the white T-shirts that were donated by a bank,” he added.
An athlete, who represented the state at the Edo 2020 National Sports Festival in 2021, Niyi Ogunleye, as well as an Ado-Ekiti-based journalist, Qasim Oladapo, also revealed that the facilities at the Oluyemi Kayode Stadium, Ado-Ekiti were nothing to write home about, although the present administration in the state had promised to rebuild its gymnasium.
“The performance of these athletes is not usually about the resources. You will see Ekiti athletes winning medals in some sports they don’t have facilities. For example, gymnastics is our fortress but we don’t have facilities. We don’t have weightlifting and even athletics, the only thing they can boast of is the tartan tracks,” Oladapo said.
“The football pitch is the only one that gets attention. Most of us use private gyms where we pay from our source. We don’t have good facilities, we don’t have indoor halls and gymnasts have to train on the runway of the long jump area. They just bring their apparatus there and train. Even our table tennis athletes train in a primary school near the stadium,” Ogunleye told The IWITNESSLIVE.