Grace Okagbare, elder sister of embattled Nigerian athlete, Blessing Okagbare, has said no official from the Ministry of Sports has reached out to the sprint star, stating that all that is been reported about her sister are ‘fabricated and unfounded lies to tarnish her image’.
She made this known in signed statement on Thursday.
Grace also alleged that since the Tokyo Games, the Athletics Integrity Units had not said ‘anything new about the case or invite her to hear her side of the story’.
According to her, AFN is trying to force her to agree to what she didn’t do, and she has vehemently refused and is prepared to go to court for proper redress.
“I am sincerely disappointed that since after the ordeals of Queen B. Okagbare, my kid sister and Africa’s Queen of the tracks during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics games, no official from the Ministry of Sports has reached out to her.
“Instead, what we are seeing in the media space is fabricated and unfounded lies to tarnish her image. This is sad and preposterous.
“A former sports Minister who is supposed to be a father figure to take up her case has rather failed woefully in all ramifications instead he’s going about running his mouth that he knew who gave drugs to Blessing.
“I am sincerely disappointed that since after the ordeals of Queen B. Okagbare, my kid sister and Africa’s Queen of the tracks during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics games, no official from the Ministry of Sports has reached out to her.
“Instead, what we are seeing in the media space is fabricated and unfounded lies to tarnish her image. This is sad and preposterous.
“A former sports Minister who is supposed to be a father figure to take up her case has rather failed woefully in all ramifications instead he’s going about running his mouth that he knew who gave drugs to Blessing.
Okagbare, who has been charged with three offences by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), was suspended on the eve of her semifinal race at the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for a human growth hormone following an out-of-competition test on July 19.
The 32-year-old was said to have later tested positive for another banned substance, recombinant erythropoietin (EPO), which increases red blood cell count. She has also been charged for not cooperating with the AIU’s investigation.
