Olympian boxer, Jerry Okorodudu, who was suspended 23 years ago by his employers, the National Sports Commission, has been reinstated by the commission after a court ruling in his favour.
The middleweight 75kg pugilist between 1981 and 1984 was a national champion and African champion.
He was suspended in 1995 from service for abandoning his duty for a professional career in the US, a situation that left him living in penury.
Okorodudu instituted a case against the Ministry of Sports in 2005 for suspending him in a Lagos High Court and the case was eventually decided in his favour in October this year by the Court of Appeal in Lagos.
Okorodudu said on Thursday in Lagos that he had been reinstated by the commission and that part of his unpaid salaries and allowances had been paid.
According to him, the remaining of his outstanding benefits would be paid instalmentally.
The boxer, who was in his newly allocated office at the National Stadium, Lagos, said: “For 23 years I have been in anguish and penury, isolated from my first family, boxing.”
He expressed hope in the judiciary and thanked the Sports Minister and Chairman of the NSC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi; and the Director General of the NSC, Hon. Gbenga Alegbeleye, for obeying the court ruling.
He also thanked the Boxing Coaches Association for the reception they accorded him on his return to office on November 3.
“Now that I am back as a national coach, I will bring my wealth of experience to bear on the national team,” Okorodudu said.
Okorodudu sued the sports ministry for suspending him from work and stopping his salary and allowances in 1995.
Okorodudu won a silver medal at the Pre-Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 and in 1985 was named Africa’s Best Boxer.
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