Opinion: Open Letter To LMC, Imo State Government Over Heartland Show Of Shame

  Opinion: Open Letter To Imo State Government Over Heartland Show Of Shame By Omolagba Oluwayemi One of the problem Nigeria sports is facing is, government running the sports. In Nigeria, technocrats are not in charge of sports. Sport is run by politicians who have no plan for  sports development. In developed countries, government makes enabling environment, build facilities while private sector drives sports. What happened at the Soccer Temple, Agege, Lagos, on Sunday in the Nigeria Professional Football League match-day  9 between MFM FC and Heartland FC was a show of shame as the Naze Millionaires wore low quality jerseys without name of players and number printed at the back . This made it difficult for the match officials and others to easily identify players who score or committed bookable fouls. Using such kits for NPFL match, is nothing but show of shame. No one is interested in what was responsible for that, because under no circumstances should a professional club wear such kits to honour Premier League game. And going by the recent news emanating from the camp of the Naze Millionaires, one can easily predict why the team had to play the match with 'Aba made' jerseys which numbers were written with pen. About three days ago, Heartland gaffer, Fidelis Ilechukwu publicly accused the club of owing him five months salary and other entitlements. In his words he said, “They are owing me five months salary and sign on fee of 1.5 million naira. We don’t have accommodation, for the past one year, they haven’t paid for my accommodation, sometimes we come back from training and we stay outside because there is no accommodation for players. "We also got FIFA ban for terminating contracts unlawfully and the players we are supposed to sign have joined other teams. “We just get few players from the grassroots because we can’t register new ones. This team didn’t have pre-season, no camping and how can we know the players?, I’ve been begging but no one came to our rescue” he said in post match conference." He even said he'd leave the club if it were possible for him "If I have my way, I will just step aside from the team and I believe it is time to talk and inform our fans what we are passing through," and yesterday, they embarrassed the NPFL with a bend down select jerseys with names written with pen. Although Heartland won the match 2-1 against MFM, the victory was traced down to the face that Heartland head coach, Ilechukwu return to his former club to prove a point after losing at home to MFFM FC in their last NPFL match before Sunday's clash. With the away win,it shows that Heartland would have been competing with clubs in the top 5 had state government resolve the financial  crises before the season kicked off. The League Management League (LMC) has tried to bring the League games back on TV but but the show of shame by Heartland will bring the game to disrepute. No doubt, a worker deserves to be paid and without a doubt, every government official in the state collects their salary, allowances and other benefits in full, why then should those who bring glory to the state made to face hardship. If the State can no longer manage the team, it will be advisable to sell the club to individuals who are interested in managing  club in the NPFL. Football in the modern day is run by private entities and such step should be taken as soon as possible before government of the state bring the game to disrepute and also bring shame to the nation at large.