Whose responsibility is it to prepare documents for the country’s bid for the 2031 African Games? Why did Nigeria hurriedly dust the documents used in bidding for the 2030 Commonwealth Games and present the same for the 2031 African Games without going through the papers to detect the elementary errors in them? These are some of the questions some stakeholders are seeking answers to following Nigeria’s defeat by Uganda in the race to host the 2031 African Games.

Some of the stakeholders dismissed the claims by the National Sports Commission (NSC) that the country withdrew its bid for the Games long before the winner was announced because the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) had agreed to rotate hosting of the Games among regions.

They pointed out that the bid process is solely overseen by the African Union (AU) through a specialised committee, with ANOCA playing no role in it.

The stakeholders pointed out that Uganda won the first round of bidding in March/April, with ratification by African Ministers of Sports taking place on June 2, 2026.

One of the stakeholders, who pleaded anonymity, told The Guardian that “Nigeria welcomed the bid committee’s inspection team in Abuja in March and assured everybody that the country was on its way to winning the bid. So, at what point did Nigeria withdraw its bid?”

He said that the AU only agreed to a rotational framework at its meeting in Bujumbura, Burundi, in December 2025, with implementation set to begin from the 2035 African Games, not 2031.

From documents made available to The Guardian, the AU urged member states “to align the hosting of African Games with the African Union’s geographical framework to ensure equitable hosting opportunities across all regions for the benefit of the athletes.

“In instances where a region is unable to identify a host country, the bidding process shall be opened to all member states. This rotational framework shall take effect from the 2035 African Games onward.”

At the same meeting in Bujumbura, the AU acknowledged Nigeria’s submission of a bid to host the 15th edition of the African Games in 2031.

The stakeholder said: “We lost the bid because of poor preparation, not because of any rotation policy. Trying to shift blame only damages our credibility further.”

Former Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, described the outcome of the country’s bid as unfortunate, saying: “It is unfortunate that again Nigeria is grossly misrepresented at the global stage.”

According to Dalung: “Bidding to host international competition is not something that is strange to us… We’ve done it before, and so there is a precedent for how these things are done.

“All we needed to do was to update it to the contemporary situation. But if we decided to embarrass the country this way, then what is manifest is that incompetence has been reenacted at a monumental stage, and it’s sad and embarrassing that such a thing could happen to Nigeria.

“But I am not that disappointed at the performance of the National Sports Commission (NSC) because they were blackmailing the ministry that the performance of the ministry was abysmal because of the absence of the National Sports Commission; the absence of professionals, the absence of this and the absence of that.

“But you can see that since the National Sports Commission came back into existence, Nigeria’s performances have been dwindling; now it’s beyond zero because we can’t even write a common piece to host an international competition.

“So that is the peak of the incompetence, and I think that the president needs to understand the significance of the ministry because when the ministry supervised, it kept them on their toes.

“If the ministry were in place, it would have reviewed the pitch; the minister would have reviewed the pitch. But you see, today, there is no ministry, and of course, the sport is being remembered more in history. We cannot qualify for anything.”

The Guardian could not reach any of the principal officers of the NSC to throw more light on the failed bid, but the director of protocol to the Commission’s Chairman, Ahmad Kawu, said those criticizing the NSC for the failed bid got it wrong.

He said: “Nigeria has been hosting big international championships for more than 30 years, and the leader of the bid committee, Mainasara Iloh, is a veteran in this sphere.

“All the people in the bid committee are experts, professionals in different fields, and I am sure they took their time after so much consideration to present our bid.

“A bid is something you either win or lose…it is based on the sentiments and conviction of those in charge of it.

“The bid body has its own thinking or its own checklist. The members of the bid committee know what really happened. I don’t think anybody will invest their energy or time in something they want to fail.”