A cross section of fans of Heartland Football Club of Owerri have alleged that the deputy speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Amara Iwuanyanwu is mismanaging the team. Iwuanyanwu is the committee chairman on sports but the fans say he is now running the club in an executive capacity rather the oversight function he was directed to play.
According to Festus Ukanna, a diehard supporter of the club, Iwuanyanwu’s actions are capable of running the club. He said, “I have been following this team since inception and I never experienced where a deputy speaker of the house of assembly made himself the executive chairman of the team. It is bad because the team has a general manager who also doubles as the CEO. So, why is the deputy speaker performing the functions of the general manager? It is not good for us as a team”.
Another Heartland fan, Udo Uche Mike even explained the situation better. “Let me tell you that it is true that the deputy speaker has taken over Heartland in executive capacity. For instance, the team’s office is non functional because there is no funds for it. What happens is that the deputy gets the money from the government house and asks management team to report to his lodge. There, he disburses the funds without any allocation made for the office. As I speak with you, Heartland office cannot power its generator, it cannot buy any stationery, it cannot even loan any player one kobo. The meaning here is that the deputy speaker has converted his lodge into Heartland office. This is not acceptable to us because the team has an office, has a general manger, has an account and an accountant”, he said.
In the same manner, Chidi Onukwube Innocent said if nothing is done to call the deputy speaker to order, Heartland might draw the wrath of the football authorities. As he put it, “Imagine a situation where the deputy speaker tampered with the management team of Heartland without the general manager? He removed the media officer who has a four year contract with the team and replaced him with someone without any letter of employment. He also removed the team manager and brought another person. These are illegal actions that are causing ripples in the team and we want them to come to an end.”
