Special sports athletes on Monday staged protests in Lagos and Benin City over their exclusion from the forthcoming 2022 National Sports Festival in Delta State.

The festival holds from November 28 to December 10.

In Lagos, Para-athletes blocked the entrance to the National Stadium, Surulere, causing gridlock on the Ojuelegba-Iponri road. The athletes carried placards conveying different messages, and called on the sports minister Sunday Dare not to exclude them from the biennial festival.

One of the athletes, Yemisi Adewole, who spoke with The PUNCH, said, “We are aware that about seven of our special sports events have been removed from the next sports festival, that is why we want to draw the attention of those concerned to find a solution to it.”

In Benin City, the Edo State capital, deaf sports athletes, led by coach Sunny Aimufua, staged a protest march to the Nigerian Union of Journalists complex, faulting the ministry’s decision to make deaf sports optional, as against the permanent status it enjoyed before now.

The athletes stormed the secretariat of the NUJ in their numbers, carrying placards with different inscriptions.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that some of the inscriptions include “The Deaf are human beings, so treat us as one”, “Deaf and hearing people are one”, “No more depriving of the deaf of their rights” and “Minister of Sports should please come to our rescue.”

Aimufua said, “We are here to protest the exclusion of deaf sports from the forthcoming National Sports Festival in Delta in November. It is also unfortunate that the sport has been made optional, which should not be so. You can’t be talking of development when you make a sport optional.

“Also, we have three major sports committees in the world – the International Olympic Committee, International Paralympic Committee and the Committee of Deaf Sports. Now, the ministry has favoured the two others, while we are neglected.

“The ministry should stop playing politics with deaf sport athletes who are different kind of persons; they need to be encouraged. They have been training and some of them are employed by the states.

“One of our athletes in Edo Assurance Omoria is the African champion in deaf long jump. If she doesn’t participate in the NSF, how would she get better in her career? She was promoted from level five to 12 because of her exploits at the African Championships by Governor Godwin Obaseki, based on my recommendation.

“What we want the ministry to do is to restore deaf sports to its permanent status and ensure that the athletes participate at the NSF in Delta,” he added.

However, the Director, National Sports Festival and Para Sports at the Federal Ministry of Youth Development and Sports, Peter Nelson, explained that the festival was transitioning into two different Games, adding that the athletes were aware.

“This protest is very unnecessary because the minister, Sunday Dare, has approved the Para Sports Festival for special athletes and the second edition will be held next year,” Nelson stated.

In separate chats with athletes from other parts of the country, it was discovered that some of the athletes already understood the transition of the sports festival.

Captain of Para-athletes in Ondo State, Oluwasola Aiku, confirmed that the Ondo State Sports Council had registered them for five Para-sports at the upcoming National Sports Festival.

“There is no protest here in Ondo State. I and some other athletes have just filled out our participation forms for the festival. The state has registered us for Para-athletics, Para-powerlifting, Para-table tennis, Para-swimming and Para-canoeing. We also understand that the first edition of the Para-sports festival was more of a test-run, so we are looking forward to another one,” Aiku said.

The maiden edition of the Para-sports festival was held in Abuja in April, with the second edition expected to take place next year and thereafter, every two years. (The PUNCH)

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