Special Assistant to the Director General of the National Sports Commission, Alhaji Abba Yola, has reacted to allegations from Messrs Iyke Igbokwe and Shaibu Ahmed Gara Gombe thart the commission was yet to build any stadia even when funds had been released.
Yola described the claim as “hysterical.”
Yola said such allegations should be ignored by discerning Nigerians.
He said: “If Igbokwe and Gara have conscience, of course, I know they do not have, they should know that they are merely selling lies to Nigerians. We have these stadia in almost all the states of the federation but we have not been able to commission them because of the hectic schedule of Mr. President.
“Igbokwe should stop playing to the gallery. If he is serious as he claims, he should take the pains to visit some of the complexes rather than the noise he is making on the radio. I enjoin his paid agents in the radio to, as journalists, investigate if these stadia are in place or not.”
He wondered why people like Igbokwe who claim to be a lawyer would be hanging on football for his livelihood while qualified lawyers are there making waves in the various courts of the land, adding that his battle to survive has made him to do anything available to make money.
Yola maintained that Igbokwe’s readiness to do any dirty job at any price has ridiculed the law profession if truly he is not impersonating, adding: “Where and where has he gone to check for the stadia and did not find any? How can he know what is happening when he is running after people begging for one dirty job or the other to earn a living whereas genuine lawyers are making their worthy contributions to the development of the country.”
On Gara Gombe, Yola said that the Gombe-born self-acclaimed critic is on a mission to blackmail the NSC leadership because of his personal gains, noting that each time he begins to make noise, the truth is that he has failed to swindle his targeted victim and therefore would stop at nothing to tarnish the image of the person.
Yola said: “We have no problem with Gara but he needn’t deceive Nigerians about his fake crusade to change sports. He knows why he is fighting and I pray that Nigerians will have the opportunity to know why he is fighting the NSC. At the appropriate time, we will tell Nigerians about his shady deals.”
Yola said that the leadership of the NSC deserves commendations for the changes it has been able to bring to sports in recent time, adding: “There is no amount of negative criticism from the likes of Igbokwe that will derail the NSC because we remain focused.”