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Other Countries Are 'Washing' Gold Medals, Nigerian Athletes Are Washing Jerseys— Senator Sani Speaks On Olympics Kits' Scandal

The Senator said this on Twitter on Thursday, noting that Nigeria rejected $2.7 million kits freely donated to Nigeria by Puma and an offer of financial rewards to athletes who win medals.

Shehu Sani, a former Kaduna senator has said that while other countries are 'washing' Gold, Nigeria is washing jerseys at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

 

"Other countries are washing Gold, we are washing jerseys.

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"If it’s true that Nigerian Athletics have to wash and wear their only jerseys in the Tokyo Olympics, then it’s unfortunate," he earlier said. 

 

The Senator said this on Twitter on Thursday, noting that Nigeria rejected $2.7 million kits freely donated to Nigeria by Puma and an offer of financial rewards to athletes who win medals. 

 

"These are the $2.7 Million kits freely donated to Nigeria by @PUMA and an offer of financial reward to our medal-winning athletes, which was rejected by our officials; They instead used public funds to purchase from other sources; And now the embarrassment in Tokyo," noted. 

 

SaharaReporters earlier reported how Nigerians have heavily criticised the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare following an embarrassing outing regarding the sportswear of Nigerian athletes at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics.

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Initially, there was the shameful disapproval of 10 of the nation’s athletes from competing at the Tokyo Olympics by the Athletics Integrity Unit.

 

Then, the day the first batch of Team Nigeria arrived in Tokyo, the team was dressed in different colours and the appearance of the team made a lot of negative impressions and an obvious signal that something was wrong in the West African country. 

 

Before Team Nigeria’s departure, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had unveiled Afa Sports as the official kits supplier for Team Nigeria. 

 

Meanwhile, it was learnt that Nigeria had a subsisting contract with German sportswear giant, Puma. 

 

Sunday Adeleye, a former Technical Director of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) said he had never seen such a thing before since he became an adult and followed Nigeria’s participation at the Olympics. 

 

"An athlete going to the Olympics should be well-motivated, and kits are part of it; not when people appear in bathroom slippers and apparel in different colours,” he said. 

 

The embarrassing drama has also resulted in the termination by Puma of the $2.76 million contract it had with the AFN.

 

A trending video showing Nigeria’s shot put medal hopeful, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, washing his jersey ahead of his final game at the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympics has riled many Nigerians. 

 

The TikTok video was initially uploaded by the athlete on his Instagram page, @thechuksay, before he deleted it.

 

The caption in the video indicated that the athlete was given one jersey for the competition.

 

“When you made the Olympic Finals, but you only have one jersey,” he wrote.

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