An erstwhile chairman of Heartland Football Club of Owerri, Chief Fan Ndubuoke, has advised the Imo State governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma on the way forward for the state owned team, Heartland as well as on how to push sports to glorious level in the state. Ndubuoke who was the immediate past chairman of the dissolved Imo State Sports Commission, stated this when the newly elected Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) visited hum in Owerri, recently.
“It is on record that one of the focal points of the Ihedioha administration was sports development. Even before he was sworn in as governor, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, had a clear vision of using sports to engage Imo youths and provide job opportunities, while reclaiming Imo’s lost glory in sports. No wonder few months into his administration, the minister of sports, Mr Sunday Dare, after going through Ihedioha’s blue print on sports while on a visit to Owerri, declared Imo state as the home of sports.
“The starting point for Ihedioha administration was the establishment of the State Sports Commission, aimed at removing the bureaucratic bottlenecks associated with the old order. He embarked on aggressive provision, rehabilitation and renovation of sports facilities across the state and even constituted a pan-Nigerian Bid Committee for the 2022 National Sports Festival. Imo athletes who fled the state for lack of sports infrastructure and motivation were lured back through his ‘Return to Root’ programme. Imo was indeed on the March to greatness in sports”.
He added, “As major stakeholders, it’s our duty to ensure that the present administration in the state sustains these lofty programmes in the interest and benefit of Imo youths. Government is a continuum and we should avoid the temptation of bringing politics into sports. For instance, what structure is in place in administration of sports in the state? Do we still have a Sports Commission or are we back to the era of Ministry of Sports? It’s our duty to investigate, educate and inform the public”.
On Heartland, Ndubuoke noted that, “Gentlemen, the crisis rocking our darling team, the Heartland Football club of Owerri is regrettable. It’s unfortunate that since 2014, when we left office, the club has gone from one crisis to the other, culminating in relegation to the lower division, the first in the history of the club. Often times, people allude the misfortune of the club to the ill-treatment meted out to those of us who toiled to return the club to winning ways even with a meager sum of Eight million Naira monthly subvention. However, i wish to state here today that we have since forgiven those who masterminded the ‘carnage’ in the club. They were driven by greed and selfishness, not by the interest of the state or the club.
“Regrettably, the crisis rocking the club today is still traceable to greed, selfishness and meddlesomeness by those who should have provided the moral compass for better management of the club. Specifically, some board members of the state Football Association and our own organisation, SWAN are all guilty in this regard. The FA ought to be the father and an impartial judge in all football matters but some members have pinched their tents with various warring parties in the crisis. I therefore call on the chairman of Imo FA, chief Amanze Uchegbulem, a known voice in football matters in Nigeria to call his members to order if the body is to play it’s fatherly role seamlessly”.
