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Nigeria: I Didn't Take Banned Drugs - Nku
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Daily Trust (Abuja)
23 July 2008
Posted to the web 23 July 2008
Canada-based former national athlete, Mercy Nku has come out with a daring declaration that she never took banned substances during her days on the tracks, while also stating she was not suspended at any point of her career.
The former sprinter declared yesterday morning, during a telephone interview with 88.9 Brila FM.
"Let me tell you something," Nku began with an air of heat. "I did not test positive for anything. Thank God, I am in the medical line and I know what drugs are all about.
"For your information, I was not banned and not tested for any drugs. That thing came about at a time when I was already going out of athletics.
"I didn't use anything. God is my witness, no one else," Nku insisted, while waving aside insinuations that she beat a fast retreat from the sport because of fears over possible international sanctions.
She, however, refrained from throwing aspersion at any official in the Athletic Federation of Nigeria (AFN), despite talk in some quarters that the drugs issue may have been a frame-up against her for the outspoken nature she was known for at the zenith of her career.
"As far as I am concerned, those who are out to do harm know themselves. I don't know of anyone who wanted to get rid of me. Whatever they do, they can't hide from God.
"I also believe nobody can stop me from being what I want to be. It's not as if I can't survive without athletics. The fact is that I will get wherever I want to get once I have God on my side," she blasted.
The former national women's 100 metres champion continued by recalling the purpose of her recent visit to Lagos, with a disclosure that she actually travelled home to check on some of the dues that should have come her way long ago.
"I was there actually to make some enquiries about what I was being owed. I was entitled to a lot under the tenure of Dan Ngerem, but the former president did not pay my dues during his time.
"They did not pay me some of my money and it was like I was left stranded. It was not as if I depended on it, but I was hurt that after you run for the country it's like they just leave you stranded.
"Nobody seems to care what happens to you, and nobody called me. They say I and Sunday Bada are members of the athletes committee, but none tells me anything that is going on.
"I also applied for my scholarship, just to see if I could get things going for my academics programme. I felt the time had come for me to start gaining something from all my days of running for the country.
"I was looking to make something happen, because it's always a situation of you working for the country but nobody seems to care," Nku lamented.
She, however, gave a breath of good news with a revelation that she has eventually been able to go back to school.
"I've gone back to school. I spent most of my useful years running for Nigeria, but did not gain much in return.
"I then remembered that in '99 or so former president, Obasanjo, gave us scholarships and I decided to apply for mine," she recalled.
Nku went ahead to look at Nigeria's chances of excelling at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China, but reasoned that the nation's strengths have been reduced with the AFN's inability to get the male 4-by-400 metres and female 4-by-100 metres relay teams into the competition.
"Who are they taking to the Olympics if the relay teams are not going? We have always known that the relays are our bigger strength than the individual sprints, and we stand a better chance there.
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"Now that two of the teams are not registered or not qualified, why is athletics going to China?" Nku asked rhetorically, while showering superlatives on female sensations - Damola Osayomi and Francesca Idoko.
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