Matebese emerges Nigeria Triathlon Union president

A new chapter has begun for the Nigeria Triathlon Union following the election of Ize Matebese as president at the union’s elective congress held at the Nigeria Olympic Committee Secretariat inside the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, on Wednesday.

Matebese, a prominent legal practitioner and one of the founding members of the union, emerged after polling 16 votes to become the first woman to lead the union in 20 years.

She succeeds Prince Wale Oladunjoye, the immediate past president, and follows the union’s founding president, Dr Lanre Glover.

Matebese was the union’s first vice-president and has also served as treasurer-general and legal adviser. She also served two terms on the Legal Committee of World Triathlon.

In her acceptance speech, Matebese praised the electoral committee, led by former president of the Aquatics Federation of Nigeria, Babatunde Fatayi-Williams, for the transparent conduct of the election and commended the support of the NOC.

“I hope to be able to birth a new beginning. Triathlon has been going on, but we need to make it more high-profile so that it is in the public eye. We haven’t had tournaments for a while, so we will have them so that people can see.

“We have had athletes going for international tournaments, but not at the Olympics. We will be looking out for our youths and push as many of them as we can,” she said.

Abiona Babarinde was elected first vice president, while Olukayode Oguntayo emerged as second vice president. Priscilla Iroaganachi was elected secretary general, with Raliat Abdulsalam as deputy secretary general and Modupeola Ofonedu as treasurer, completing the newly elected NTU board.

Glover, who is the union’s honorary life president, expressed confidence in the new executives and backed Matebese to build on the achievements of previous administrations.

“I expect that there will be more competitions. The incoming president is one of the foundation members and knows the ideals of the NTU.

“We expect to roll out championships. Also, we are going to have development programmes focusing on schools, and the general organisation will return to our old style,” he said.

Triathlon combines swimming, cycling and running and has been an Olympic sport since the 2000 Sydney Games.

The Nigeria Triathlon Union was founded in November 2006 by a group of sports administrators, led by Glover, with Banji Oladapo, Fatayi-Williams and Oladunjoye among the founding members. Gloria Obajimi served as the association’s first secretary-general.

The NTU was admitted as a member of the International Triathlon Union, now World Triathlon, in February 2007 and became a full member of the African Triathlon Union at a congress in Mauritius in April 2007.

The union also gained full membership of the Nigeria Olympic Committee in May 2007.