By Our Correspondent

The crises rocking Imo State-owned male and female football clubs – Heartland FC and Heartland Queens FC, respectively are unlikely to be over any time soon as the players of the Heartland Queens FC have deserted the club in protest against years of unpaid salaries and match entitlements, Bestchoicesports.com.ng can report.

This is coming as the Nigeria Women Football League, NWFL players have sent a Save Our Souls 9SOS) message to the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma on the need for his intervention to rescue the club and ameliorate the players sufferings

Investigation shows that the players staged w walkout from the club following questionable and strange resurface of erstwhile team manager, Charity Enwerem in the affairs of the club.

Recall that Ms Enwerem was alleged to be the brain behind the non-payment of the players’ salaries in the last three seasons due to her insidious antics and pranks.

Ms Enwerem, it was gathered, wrote a petition to Imo State House of Assembly claiming ownership of the club which stalled an early approval for the payment of the players’ salaries by the then government of Owelle Rochas Okorocha.

The embittered players who spoke on the condition of anonymity vowed not to return or have anything to do with the club as long as the lady remains the Team manager.

One of the players said: “We do not want to have anything to do with her in any capacity in the team because of her dirty past.

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“She never wished us and the team well in her capacity as team manager of the club, our memories of that period were heart-rending and heart-wrecking.

“We do not want her escapades in Taraba and Bayelsa state to stain us where she was declared wanted by individuals whom she had business in the past.

“We fear for our lives that we may be picked up with her one day by the security agents believing that we were partners in the illicit business.

“We can’t forget in a hurry how she made us to sleep in hostel of the National Institute for Sports (NIS) in Lagos when government paid for us to sleep in hotel during our campaign in the lower league.

“Nauseating too was how she made the players in their monthly period to sleep in the bus during one of our games in llorin while she slept in the hotel with her lady friends.

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“She upstaged the original owner of the club, Coach Chinedu Iwu, aka, Coach Showing. She dubiously renamed the club from Showing Babes to Skilful Football Academy without the knowledge of Coach Chinedu Iwu.

“She singlehandedly negotiated the takeover of the club with government without the knowledge of the original owner of the club.

“Her double dealing and heinous act only came to light during the registration of the team for the 2017 football season when the then Commissioner for Sports went to Abuja for the registration of the team only to discover that Heartland Queens was the name she has been using to collect money from government only to spend same on Skilful academy in Abuja.

“The league body had to issue her with ultimatum to immediately sign the letter transferring ownership of the club to state government.

“This same lady vowed that as long as she lives we will never get our arrears of salaries and she has been success with her collaborators in government.

“This act forced many of us to be practically beggars and nuisances in the streets of Owerri to feed ourselves.

“Imagine the same person who kept us in this inhuman condition, who made living simply hell for the past three season to come back to take charge of the team she vowed to kill.

“We call on the Commissioner for Sports to be wary of her deceits, beguile and lies. She has lied about building a new team different from the existing and registered team even though she cannot boast of more than seven players. The seven players were actually the ones dropped last season.

“The Commissioner and his entourage witnessed the show of shame when they visited her so called training session at the Old Stadium in Owerri with merely seven players on the pitch.

“Charity does not wish the team well, she just want to bury the team permanently to satisfy her uncommon greediness.

“We are clear on our stand not to be involved in the team as long as Charity is involved or has anything to do with the team.

“We are pleading with the government to pay us our past salaries owed to us while we move on with our careers

“We cannot imagine ourselves playing for Heartland Queens under such callous, heartless and vindictive individual like Charity.

“No other proof to ascertain the rightful owner of the club before she hijacked it than the recent Fifa’s  development fee payment to players that played at the last Fifa Women’s World Cup to Showing FC for the discovery of Nigeria’s goalkeeper, Chiamaka Nnadozie who now plies her trade with PSG Ladies in France.

“Charity meant no good for Heartland Queens and should be avoided like a plague by people of goodwill, civility and decency,” alleged the top player who pleaded not to be named on behalf of her teammates.

It is yet to be seen how far the team will go towards meeting the stringent requirements for participation in the upcoming 2020/2021 Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) Premiership season due to commence on Wednesday, December 09, 2020 with over three seasons backlog of unpaid salaries to the players.

Efforts to contact Charity Enwerem Proved abortive as her phone number was switched off when our correspondent tried to reach her for her side of the story.