House Committee issues 5-day ultimatum for NOC President, Gumel to appear, explain level preparedness for games in France

The Hon. Ekene Adams Abubakar-led House Committee on Sports has issued a 5-day ultimatum for the President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC, Engr. Habu Gumel to appear before his Committee to explain the level of preparedness ahead of Olympic games in France.

The lawmaker disclosed this while granting an interview with journalists at the National Assembly, Abuja on Thursday.

He regretted Engr Habu Gumel’s absence when every other members of the Olympic Committee were present for the interaction with the panel, hence, he has been summoned to appear.

He said, the Committee on Sports was not ready to accept proxy, noting that the NOC President should respect himself and the Committee and appear.

Ekene believes the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Ahmed Bola Tinubu is keen and concerned about the impact of Sports on its citizens, and as such, the committee is saddled up to interface with the NOC to know how ready they are in the build up to the games.

Olympics is a serious business that should not be treated with kids gloves, as winning will not occur on grounds of serendipity.

“Nigerian’s wants to hear from him about the preparation for the Olympics, the president of the federal Republic of Nigeria has interest in sports, and he demonstrated it yesterday in the one year anniversary celebration to tell Nigerians that he wants to take the country to the next level using sports which is a unifying factor in this country”.

“Sports is the only vehicle that gives the synergy to move the country forward, so we just asked the Olympics committee to go and appear before the house by Thursday next week so that they can brief us proper over the preparation of the Olympics”.

“Anybody that comes here apart from the president on proxy we might say no, so we felt, we should invite him in person, and let him respect the voice of the country to appear before the house next week”.

“With 57 days to the start of the 2024 summer Olympic games scheduled to take place in Paris France”, it seems the House Committee on sports is still in the dark with team Nigeria’s readiness.