Twenty-four hours after they were originally scheduled to have departed for their various destinations, most of the invited participants to Monday’s Presidential Sports Retreat are still stranded in Abuja.
The Eagle Online can authoritatively report that no fewer than 12 eminent Nigerian sports personalities are yet to leave Abuja.
The invited guests, who breezed into the nation’s capital on Sunday for the Monday’s event, were scheduled to check out of Bolton White Hotel, Abuja on Tuesday.
However, due to the failure of the organisers, the National Sports Commission, to settle the honourarium and flight ticket of the guests, the stranded sports personalities will have to stay an extra day in Abuja.
It was gathered exclusively that the management of the hotel had earlier forcefully ejected them on the ground that they were to stay for two nights.
However, after several distress calls to NSC bigwigs by the invited guests, the hotel management was instructed to accommodate them for the extra day pending when the issues of flight ticket and honourarium will be resolved.
Some of the stranded personalities are FIFA Technical instructor, High Chief Adegboye Onigbinde; former Secretary General of the Nigeria Football Association and one time Bauchi State Commissioner for Sports, Hon. Sani Toro; the Group Sports Editor of The Nation, Ade Ojeikere; and the Sports Editor of Soccer Star, Kunle Solaja.
It was uncertain as at press time if the stranded invited participants will leave Abuja on Wednesday as officials of the NSC were said to have allegedly abandoned them.
None of them was available for comments as at press time.
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