Ebonyi Sports Commissioner, Idike Clears Air on Enviable Tournament, Denies ₦20m Demand For Stadium

The Ebonyi State Commissioner for Youth Development and Sports, Prince Richard Ugo-Idike, has dismissed as false and baseless allegations that he demanded the sum of ₦20 million from the organisers of the Enviable Football Tournament to allow the final match be played at the state-owned Pa Ngele Oruta Township Stadium, Abakaliki.

Prince Idike described the claim as watery and lacking in substance, stressing that at no point did he discuss money with the tournament organisers. He explained that he met with the organisers on Sunday,(yesterday) alongside officials of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), where discussions centred solely on administrative and regulatory issues surrounding the competition.

According to the Commissioner, the NFA raised concerns that it was not officially notified about the tournament and had written to his office warning against the use of unregistered referees allegedly brought in from Cross River State. He added that the National President of Referees also contacted him, cautioning that the officials engaged for the tournament were not registered and were improperly wearing FIFA badges, a development that reportedly led to their arrest and detention.

Prince Idike clarified that the outcome of the meeting was a directive for the organisers to formally regularize the competition with the Football Association, as the FA, working with the government, is responsible for overseeing all organised football matches across the federation, particularly those officiated by registered referees. He stated that officials of the NFA, including the Chairman, Secretary and committee members, were present at the meeting, after which he handed the matter over to them and left.

According to him, there was an agreement in principle that the final would go ahead once the organisers completed the necessary engagement with the FA. The Commissioner further disclosed that while statutory Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) would be paid into the government’s official account for the use of the stadium, such payments were never discussed during the meeting.

"Our discussion was centered on NFA issue which said they're not aware of the competition and they wrote to my office saying that we should not allow them play the match with the fake referees they hired from Cross River State, Even the national president of Refrees called me that we should not allow those refrees they are using that they are not registered refrees. "And that they are wearing FIFA batch to officiate which prompted them arresting them and detained them as they are not recognized by the referee body. "What we discussed yesterday was that they should finalize with FA because, if they do not finaze with FA that they will not use the stadium because FA works with every state government and is incharge of every football game organized in whole federation so long as a registered refrees will officiate it. "So, what we discussed yesterday was, how do they settle as they have started and didn't write to FA? I told them which is to negotiate with FA by writing to them officially. After the registration, that's all. We never discussed about money. "It was almost concluded because, Chairman of NFA was there, Secretary NFA was there and committee FA official was there and I handed them over and left. "We agreed that they will play before I left, and have called chairman yesterday night and this morning who told me that Enviable has not called him, but we agreed that they will settle with FA while the stadium will be released to them that yesterday." “There has been no discussion about money whatsoever, and I have not demanded any amount from anyone,” Prince Ugo-Idike said, insisting that the allegations making the rounds in some sections of the media are entirely untrue.