AIU Issues Ultimatum to Nigeria Over Alleged Age Manipulation In Junior Athletes

AIU Issues Ultimatum to Nigeria Over Alleged Age Manipulation In Junior Athletes

Sampson Adedeji 

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has given Nigeria a firm deadline of 16 January 2026 to explain serious discrepancies in the dates of birth of athletes entered for the 2025 African U18 & U20 Championships held in Abeokuta, BSNSports.com.ng reports

According to the AIU, 16 out of the 17 registered Nigerian athletes were found to have multiple and conflicting birth dates across official documents, raising strong suspicions of systematic age manipulation.

In a directive sent to the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), the global integrity body demanded the immediate submission of verifiable age-confirming documents, including birth certificates, international passports, school records, and medical files, to establish the athletes’ true ages.

The AIU warned that failure to comply within the stipulated timeframe would automatically trigger a full-scale investigation into possible violations of the Integrity Code of Conduct and World Athletics technical regulations.

This development represents Nigeria’s second major age-related scandal in less than two years under the leadership of AFN President Tonobok Okowa. The federation has come under intense scrutiny, with Secretary General Israel Inwang accused of failing to enforce strict procedural standards, and Technical Director Gabriel Okon criticized for allegedly prioritizing travel over compliance and internal governance.

A similar controversy previously occurred under former Technical Director Samuel Onikeku, and the recurrence of such cases has raised concerns about a deep-rooted culture of administrative negligence within Nigerian athletics.

The AIU described the irregularities as far beyond clerical errors, indicating patterns that suggest deliberate alteration of athlete ages to gain unfair advantage in age-grade competitions.

The global body stressed that such practices undermine the credibility of competitions, erode international trust in Nigerian athletics, and violate the ethical standards required of all member federations.

With the January 16, 2026 deadline looming, failure by the AFN to provide credible and contemporaneous documents could result in serious sanctions and further reputational damage for Nigerian athletics.