By Admin

There is palpable tension among the Management of Nigeria Women Professional Football League Side, and 2021 Nigeria AITEO Cup Champions, Bayelsa Queens over an alleged secret sale of players of the Yenagoa based club to foreign clubs

Reports say some of the Board members are spoiling for war against the Chairman of the club, Pastor Robin Apreala for sidelining them and single handedly selling some players to foreign clubs.

According to a source in the club, the Chairman alongside the Technical Adviser, Monday Aduku and another member of the technical crew, unilaterally sold the players to clubs in Sweden and Israel without any form of paper works and documentation.

‘The Chairman has not been transparent. He doesn’t inform the Bayelsa State government, owners of the club and the Board about the sales of players to foreign clubs. He has been running a one man show and has been very dodgy and evasive on how much the players were sold. He still thinks he is a sole Administrator and runs the club that way without accounting systems’.

Checks by our Correspondent indicate that neither the State government nor the Board is aware of the transfer of the players to the foreign clubs as the Chairman ensures that the entire transaction is kept out of the knowledge of the Authorities and the Board.

According to the source, the Chairman single handedly organized and superintended over the sales of forward and Super Falcons player, Joy Bokiri who few days ago joined Swedish side, Allmanna Idrottsklubben (AIK) FC.

Though Bokiri who has featured one time for Nigeria in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, which was hosted and won by Germany in 2010 while Nigeria were runners up has signed a one-year contract with AIK FC, the amount of money involved in the entire transaction has been kept out of the knowledge of the State government and the board.

Also, another influential striker, Charity Reuben recently joined the Israeli side, Hapoel Beer Sheva FC with the former Ibom Angels and KIIG Kazygurt player signing a two-year contract with Hapoel Beer Sheva FC without any known amount on the transaction.

Insiders say Charity Reuben who featured for Nigeria at the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup scored eight goals in the course of the 2020/2021 NWFL Premiership season for Bayelsa Queens as Bayelsa Queens finished top of the league with 31 points from 13 games before failing to replicate the same form during the Super Six at Ijebu Ode where Rivers Angels clinched the league title was sold for a reasonable amount.

‘I can tell you that the transfer of these two star players of Bayelsa Queens run into thousands of dollars. Calculate it, that’s a lot of millions of Naira when converted. Inspite of this, the Chairman keeps the State government in ignorance and rather opts to carry files for approvals of funds to chase after government officials every now and then. What he uses the proceeds of the transfer of our players to foreign clubs to do remains a mystery. Even before the AITEO Cup final when the wife of the Governor and the Deputy Governor visited the players and gave them money, a huge part of these donations never got to the players’, our source hinted.

Due to the situation, some of the board members have vowed to expose the Chairman and his antics by drawing the attention of the State Governor and the Deputy Governor to the ugly trend as they stated that he was shortchanging the state purse.

When our Correspondent put a call across to the Chairman of Bayelsa Queens, Pastor Robin Apreala to react to the issues raised, he refused to respond.