Rio 2016 Paralympic Games gold medalist Lauretta Onye has appealed to the Imo State Government to fulfill its promise to honor her, the News agency of Nigeria reports.
Onye lamented the state government
omitted her from the list of the national athletes from the state it
rewarded for winning medals.
“Governor Rochas Okorocha promised to
reward athletes from the state who won medals at the 2016 Rio Olympic
Games, but I was not in Owerri when the other athletes were rewarded,”
the para-athlete told NAN on Tuesday.
“I am a fan of the governor because of
his kindness, but I am dissatisfied that he has yet to honor his
promise to reward me, as he did to my colleagues since 2016.”
The 33-year-old F-40 shot putter added,
“We are four from Imo State who participated in the Paralympics Games in
Brazil and won medals in our events and classes, but only Roland
Ezuruike, Ndidi Nwosu and Josephine-Precious Orji were rewarded by the
state government.
“My case became different because I did
not come back with the other athletes due to the fact that my event was
still on when the others came home.
“I broke a world record before coming back to Nigeria. When I came back, I went to my state for the promise.
“Since then, it has been difficult seeing the governor. I never heard or received anything from my state government.”
Onye said she had made fruitless efforts to see the governor.
She said, “I traveled from Lagos to
Owerri on several occasions to keep appointments with the governor’s
protocol officers, but at the end, they usually told me that the
governor would not see me because of meetings and programmes.
“The whole thing is making me to feel sad. I feel I am marginalized.”
NAN reports that Onye also won Nigeria’s
only medal in the 2015 International Paralympics Committee World
Championships, Doha, with a throw of 8.40m.
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