Abati Article on Asaba 2018 Unfortunate, Says LOC Chairman

The Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the just concluded 2018 African Senior Athletics Championships held in Asaba, Delta State, Chief Solomon Ogba, has described a back page article written by Dr. Reuben Abati, published yesterday with the title: ‘The Asaba Disgrace’, as “unfortunate and disgraceful.”

In a statement issued Tuesday by the committee’s Head of Media, Olukayode Thomas, made available to THISDAY, Ogba said though Abati, a respected journalist has a right to his opinion but for him to describe the organisation of the Championship as a disgrace showed that he, he was acting in manner that suggested he was being used.

According to the statement, Ogba stated that it was regrettable that Abati wrote authoritatively about a subject he has no firsthand information about, and wondered why Abati, who he alleged was not in Asaba, would write authoritatively about an event he did not witness.

The statement reads in part: “Abati’s description of the Championship organisation as a disgrace is unfortunate and disgraceful. “Dr. Abati, a respected journalist, has a right to his opinions but to describe the organisation of CAA Asaba 2018 as a disgrace shows he is acting in a manner that suggests that he is being used.

“It is regrettable that Abati wrote authoritatively about a subject he has no firsthand information on. He was not in Asaba, so why write authoritatively about an event you did not witness? I am sure if he had contacted his junior colleague, Olukayode Thomas, who is our Head of Media, he would have gotten some firsthand information and clearer insight.

“He could have called to check his facts and would have saved himself all the embarrassment the falsehood he penned is causing. He wasn’t even ready to give the organiser the benefit of the doubt. It is lamentable that a writer of Abati’s status in the media is relying on unverifiable information available on online media to write a sensitive article’’.

Ogba said the Championship had hitches that were dealt with swiftly and the few countries involved were grateful for the manner in which the issues were resolved.

He said: “Compared to previous African Championships, we witnessed the least complaints, especially in the areas of feeding, accommodation and transportation. Contrary to Abati’s story, no country slept at the airport for three days.

“Regular travellers like Abati know that our airports shut down by 11pm, so how can people sleep in an airport that is completely closed down by night? We had four hotels in Lagos. They include the two Ibis near the airport and Novotel where the athletes and officials that could not connect a flight to Asaba stayed and Abati is free to contact the management of the hotels.”

Ogba who is apparently furious over the publication, argued that Abati was in a hurry to do a hatchet job and therefore did not tarry to carry out his research properly before going to the press, noting that a simple Google search would have told Abati that Ibrahim Gusau is the President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and not Solomon Ogba.

He added: “The search machine would also have informed Abati that it was not the AFN that organised the championships. Google would have supplied Abati facts to show that Team Nigeria under AFN was just one of the participating countries and that Tanzania was one the few countries that did not even participate.”

Describing Abati as a neophyte in athletics, Ogba pointed that such explains why he swallowed the stories he read online about a bad track hook, line and sinker.