By Our Correspondent

In 1991, Abia State was carved out of old Imo State. The creation of the state under the then military regime came with the establishment of ministries and departments.

Among the departments created within the Ministry of Youth and Sports is the Abia State Sports Council.

The council has the mandate to discover, nurture and groom athletes in the state. It is also responsible for organising and overseeing the welfare of athletes during national competitions such as the National Youth Games, NYG and the National Sports Festival, NSF.

Abia State is synonymous with developing and having super stars in Nigeria sports. In fact, the history of Nigeria sports will never be complete without recognising the role of Abia state in such mileage. Such great athletes include inter alia, Chioma Onyekwere, Nigeria’s discuss great; Nwankwo Kanu, two-time Africa Footballer of the Year; Samuel Chukwueze of Super Eagles.

Recently, Abia State Sports Council have not recorded mileages when it comes to national competitions. For instance, in the 2018 NSF in Abuja, the God’s Own State ended 11^th on the medals table with 44 medals.  In 2012 edition of the competition held in Lagos and tagged Eko 2012, Abia was placed 24 with 20 medals.

At the youth level, the state has done appreciably well after winning sixth position at the 2018 NYG in Kwara state.

However, these not quite impressive outings could be eroded going be the alleged monumental financial impropriety rocking the sports council.

Bestchoicesports.com.ng investigations show that the Director of Sports, Abia State Sports Council, has been in the eyes of storm over alleged financial maleficence, lately.

According to an impeccable source who spoke to our correspondent Saturday, he alleged that the Director has been short-changing staff members through one dubious means or the other.

Prominent among the allegations was the dubious mechanism allegedly planned by the Director and a host of other top officials in the finance and welfare units in which the monthly contributions of the members of the Staff Welfare Association was misused.

The source noted other instances of alleged financial infidelity against the Director to include not remitting monthly deduction of staff members to the appropriate quarters.

The source made mention of a Mortgage Bank in the state where staff got loans and their monthly salaries deducted with respect to repaying the loan only to discover that such deduction never reached the bank yet their salaries have been deducted for more than 10 months in this regard.

The source further alleged that the Sports Council short-changed members of the staff who had applied for home and office appliances with Amaecom Nigeria Limited. He citied a case of a young staff who applied for a laptop, printing machine and a generating set, ostensibly to use them to start a computer business, but could only get the laptop after two years deduction was made from his salary without such reflecting on the company’s account.

Genesis of the Crisis

“Since Mr Football (former Director) retired, the current one came in and we are having serious problems since then,” the source who craved anonymity started.

“The problems of the director are many. He came in as a director through promotion. Promotion in the civil service anywhere is not by certificate, but performance.

“When he assumed office, the first thing he did was implement ‘operation show your degree certificate’ policy, without which there will be no promotion. Whether you are an athlete, coach, official or sports secretary.

“At the end of it, he succeeded and some persons were stopped from being promoted to the next grade of their ranks. The athletes who could not bear the policy, relocated and left the council. These are key athletes in the state and their relocation made us porous and weak as a council.

“Coupled with the then government’s non-indigene policy that forced non-Abians athletes to leave the state and the new degree certificate for promotion policy, Abia State Sports Council became empty.

“Secondly, the way the director goes after money, he can go to the land of the dead to get money for personal use. For instance, if you are not coming to work, once you ‘give him something’ you are covered.

“Now the one that broke the camel’s back is fraud. You know that when people are sacked or retired, their names are removed from the council’s account. But under him, that is not the case. All those that left the service in the council, their names are still in the sports council’s account or pay roll. Those who died, retired or relocated to other states or travelled to oversee are there.

“The director colludes with the accountant and retained their names as staffs of the council. What they do, because salary comes straight to staff’s bank accounts – but there are union, welfare, coaches association or secretaries deduction – government will do that based on information sent to them from office; but what the director and the accountant do concerning those names of dead, retired or relocated staff is that they will channel their amount/salary into Abia State Sports Council’s Welfare account. So government will not give the cheque as welfare money deducted from salary.

“When the money reaches the welfare account, the chairman of the welfare will pull out the money and they will share among themselves. The money we are talking of here is in millions.

Mortgage Bank and Ameacon Nig Limited Deductions

“There are staff members who collected loans from the Mortgage Bank to pay monthly. At a point deduction from their salaries were made but for over a year, the deduction did not reflect on the Mortgage Bank’s details until the bank wrote to the council.

It was at this point that the secretary of the council discovered that 10 months deduction from his salary in respect of the loan did not reach the bank.

“There is a company in Umuahia, Amaecom Nig Limited, that gives house and office appliances. Some workers went and registered with them to pay in instalments and the money will be spread across monthly such that the moment you finish payment, you will take possession of the item.

“There was a staff that needed a laptop, photocopy machine and a generating set. (I don’t know if he wanted to open a business centre) N550, 000 was deducted from the staff salary for about two years but the money did not reach the company. When the staff went there, the company went through their records and gave him only laptop and told him that that was the value of money they received in respect of the items that other money did not come in,” he the source said.

He also told our correspondent how an athletic coach that needed a generating set from the same company got N120, 000 deducted from his salary but he did not see generating set nor the money.  

$1000 Handball Player Transfer Unaccounted

“Abia state has a powerful handball team called The Villains. One of the players went to Benin Republic for an international outing. The people sent in $1000 as her transfer fee. The money did not enter the council’s account. The management staff did not see the money. But the fraud was revealed.

“When the team went to Lagos or Sokoto for a competition, they ran out of cash and problem arose. Then one lady called Pascaline, who was the Villains’ goalkeeper, who also was in Benin then, sent them some money through which they came home.

“When they returned home, they were struggling to pay back the money but the lady told them not to worry, that the money was part of the money they got from the handballer’s transfer fee that came in; all of them were shocked.

“In sports council, there are Coaches and Secretaries associations. Do you know that the money deducted from their salaries for the welfare of the associations every month, the director uses it? He will claim that he is using it to run the council. At a point, the members said they are not contributing again. They gave order that nobody should deduct money from their salaries again.”  

“The members after due protest reached out to the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Service Employee, AUPCTRE who wrote a petition to the Abia State Commissioner for Sports.”

Commissioner Sets Up Five-man Panel

The source noted further that after the petition was written, the commissioner for youth and sports in the state set up a five-member panel to investigate the director. The panel sat for three weeks. The council was hugely polarized into two – those for and those against the director. There was rancour and cold war in the council

After their sitting, the panel released its report and indicted the director.

Back to the Commissioners panel, the director and accountant were indicted. This report I am telling you was submitted last two weeks’ Friday. The Commissioner submitted the report to the Governor. The Director, Accountant, Chairman of the Welfare Association were all indicted. The Welfare Chairman was pulling money from the account without the knowledge of the treasurer. The Chairman and the secretary were the ones that will sign the cheque and pull out the money. The Welfare executive were elected in November last year. The treasurer requested that the Welfare cheque be handed over to him. The chairman was in possession of the chequebook. After much troubles, they later handed the chequebook to the treasurer but when the treasurer reached home, he noticed that 16 pages of the chequebook have been removed.

It is from the 16 pages they removed that they are now pulling out the money from the welfare and hand over to the director. Information available show that when they pull out the money, they will give the lady N50, 000. According to the lady, the director had pulled over one million naira out of the welfare account.

There are about 400 staff in Abia State Sports Council and each staff pays N300 per month into the welfare account. When the former chairman of the Welfare association noticed what the director was doing and challenged him, he (director) dissolved their committee and a new election was conducted that brought in the current chairman who was indicted by the Commissioner’s panel.

 Election was conducted and the current exco members came on board. The chairman and the Director works hand in glove so much so that the Director made the Welfare Chairman secretary of the Abaia State Festival team.

So, the AUPCTRE wrote a petition and the Commissioner set up the panel headed by the Permanent Secretary of the sports ministry. The PS lived up to expectation. Information available indicates that when the panel finished sitting, the secretary of the panel was asked to compile the report and submit. Upon submission, the members noticed that the report was at variance with their findings. It was then that the chairman asked each member to submit individual report.

The PS told the secretary of the panel what happened with the report…so when the individual reports were submitted, the Director, Accountant, Head of Welfare and Head of Pay Roll were all indicted. They submitted the report to the commissioner who in turn submitted it to the governor.

Unpaid 2018 National Sports Festival allowance

The National Sports Festival held in Abuja in 2018, the governor released N10 million for the festival. Do you know that for the 11 days the Abia contingents spent there, officials got N10, 000 allowance only? Majority of the officials did not come back with a kobo. Some of them paid for their transportation from Abuja to Abia State.

Secretary to the sports council used his money to pay for other officials who could not afford their fare back to Abia state. Sad enough, for him to recover his money, he shut down the Umuahia stadium in protest that his money must be paid. That was how he got back his money.

Since 2018 festival. 95% of the Abia State Sports Council Officials have not received a dime. Normally, when there is competition, officials are paid based on their salary grade. If the money released by the government is less than expected, the allowance will be reduced but not to mere N10, 000 for 11 days competition. I mean the N10, 000 was for the 11 days, so if you calculate it, you will be having a little above N900 allowance per day. It is called night allowance and the minimum grade is N10, 000 per night. There are those on N15, 000 or N20, 000 per night. If you use the minimum as a base, N10, 000 multiply by 11 will give you N110, 000. Assuming the money is not enough as budgeted, at least one should be looking at N70, 000 for the 11 days. Sadly, few were given the N10, 000 with majority of the officials left without a kobo. This is one of the major problems in the council right now.

When we went to Kwara State (National Youth Games) similar incident would have happened as well. But they paid higher. But during that, the director approached the accountant and demanded he gave him half a million naira. The accountant refused and summoned a management meeting. When the seven management staff members who were there gathered and asked to know what was the matter, the accountant recounted the director’s demand. But the Director turned around and lied and said that he only came to inform the accountant that the council is owing him. The accountant was shocked.

My brother, Abia State sports council is in shambles. When he said that without degree certificate, no promotion, the few that are supposed to work have abandoned their work and entered school.

Pay Roll department and six ghost staff

There is a boy employed in the Pay Roll Department. Six staff left the service and the director directed that their names should be removed. After compiling the list for payment, this boy would go outside and use names of his friends to replace the six people that have left. When salary is paid, the six people will receive the alert and transfer the money back to him. He was doing this thing for months until he was exposed.

A panel was set up to investigate him. The boy confessed that he did all that he was accused of. The Director said that there is no how he should be sacked from work. He removed the boy from the Pay Roll office and made him his PA. Not only PA to his office, the boy was made the transport officer of the council. What it means is that anywhere the council is going, he will be the one to make arrangements for transportation. So, people now suspect that the Director sent him on the first fraud hence the positions he occupies.

Abia State Sports Council is an Eyesore

The source continued:

These are the things we are suffering in the Abia State Sports Council. There is nowhere you will go in the council you would see modern equipment, there is no training facilities. Nothing. Abia State Sports Council is an eyesore.

The director is not in good terms with Abia State SWAN (Sports Writers Association of Nigeria). There is nothing happening in the council that you will read in the press.

Now, our worry is that the governor does not have the heart to discipline civil servants who misbehaved. After he was quarantined for covid-19, he took minor actions then and suspended the Permanent Secretary and the Commissioner for Works.

We have waited for him to take action. The staff want the Director out of the council. The body language of the commissioner of sports and governor is a sense of concern to the workers. Abia State Sports Council is caged and the government is the only one that can salvage this situation.   

The Director’s wife is a sound and disciplined coach. He is a member of the Aba Sports Club and through them he is seeking for audience with the governor to relax the report. So the speed with which everything started had reduced drastically now.   

When it comes to disciplining workers, the governor is weak. With the indictment, the Director should vacate the office.

 Sports Council is a department but saddled with the development of the youth and sports in the state. Every government focus should be on the development of the youth. Any government that cannot develop the youth is good for nothing. 

After the 2012 National Sports Festival in Lagos State, the then governor, Theodor Orji gave waiver to employ 100 athletes because the performance of the team was very bad. The Abia team was within the 20^th positions. So the governor ordered for recruitment of athletes but those recruited then were not athletes. The authorities then sabotaged the employment and used the opportunity to employ their people who had nothing to do with sports. It shoot-up our numerical strength but there is no value in return.

I Have Not Done Anything Wrong – Abia State Sports Council Director, Isaac Ogbona Isaac

When contacted by our correspondent, the Director of Sports Isaac Ogbona Isaac said he has not done anything wrong and described the allegation as handiwork of his enemies who are envious and felt he is not the right person for the position

He denied the allegations and said that the council got less amount of money for the 2018 National Sports Festival adding that the decision to pay officials N10, 000 for the festival was taken by the management and not him alone.

I don’t know who gave you the report or how you got the report. There is nothing like. It is just that some people felt…it is just about somebody being envious. There is nothing like that. How can somebody say that – when they know that what the state government gave me is not what they are talking about. There is nothing like that.

It is about some people who are feeling that they are supposed to be there not me. I have not done anything wrong. A committee was set up to look into the matter and they are looking into the matter.

BCS: The committee, we understand, have finished their work and submitted their report last two weeks Friday?

I would not know if they have submitted. I am only telling you what I know.

BCS: Can you tell us about these allegations against you?

Well, my brother, the truth of the matter is that it is only somebody who knows, will know. As a senior government official, you cannot pay more than you were given. We made an application and the governor in his wisdom graciously approved some money…

BCS: Cut in; how much was approved, sir?

I cannot give you that by now because I am in a function in Owerri (Imo State). We wrote but what we wrote was not what was approved. What they approved was not what was released to us. They are still owing us balance of the money. So nobody will pay more than what he have. The people that gave me money know that they did not release up to that.

When we got to Abuja, we had issues just like every other state. But we were able to manage our own with wisdom and ingenuity. Then we said that since there was a projection for the athletes, that the officials will understand better, let us pay these athletes who we are going to use tomorrow again because if we need them, they are going to come. And those of them who are staffs and officials will understand better when this money is released. It was a management decision and we all agreed. I had to even go and borrow money and completed their transport so that we can go and look better. If I had enough, I wouldn’t have gone to borrow. So that is the situation. If the balance comes, we will pay them. We have not received it.

BCS: It is almost two years after the festival, what efforts are you making to get the balance?

I am doing all the necessary things I need to do. It is an official matter; I have written and they are also aware. They promised to pay us the balance and once they pay, I will call them and share it.

BCS: Did you honour the panel’s invitation?

Of course, I did. I am a civil servant, I should honour (it)

BSC: What questions did they ask you?

They asked me questions and the ones I know, I answered; the ones I don’t know, I don’t know.