Chief Solomon Ogba, Chairman, Local Organising Committee for the Confederation of African Athletics, Asaba 2018 said most of the stranded foreign athletes did not disclose their flight schedule to the organisers.
Ogba made the statement at a media briefing in Asaba.
He said the Nigeria media did not ask questions from the organisers but rather got information from journalists accompanying the stranded teams.
Ogba claimed no athlete slept at the Muritala Mohammed Airport in Lagos as two separate hotels were booked for the stranded teams.
He said, “They told us that some athletes were at the airport and cannot go to Asaba. The foreign athletes put the organizers under pressure but that is not what we are saying right now because we have passed this stage”.
“The Nigeria media did not help matters and did not ask questions from the right source. If the team had given us their arrival schedules, we would have known were they would be arriving. This is Africa, people who cannot provide for you when they come, they’ll want to attack because they see Nigeria as a big brother”, he added.
The former Athletics Federation President however apologised to the journalists covering the championships for the hiccups observed at the start of the event.
