The Gombe Athletics Academy (GAA) has threatened to sanction any of its athletes who honor an invitation to represent the state at the forthcoming National Youth Games.
Chairman and Founder of the Academy, Ahmed Shuiab Gara-Gombe, said he will not fail to invoke the training and development agreement they signed with the parents if any of them disobeys the directive.
Gara-Gombe listed a number of reasons for the Academy to boycott the NYG in Asaba, especially the failure of the Ministry of Sports to account for N39m released by the state government for the last National Sports Festival.
He also decried the attitude of the state officials towards the activities of the Academy, including boycotting the Gombe Inter-Secondary Schools Athletics Competition, and also their insistence that he must pay to use the stadium, which he did.
Another reason he highlighted for directing that GAA should boycott the National Youth Games is betrayal by officials of the state.
‘I constructed 19 new toilets, renovated 15 existing ones, and fixed electricity in all the classrooms of the school used as Games Village during the festival. Yet, some government officials allegedly instigated JEDC officials to disconnect the electricity where over 2,500 young boys and girls were camped. We had to pay a bribe before power was restored.’
He further pointed out, ‘As Chairman of the State Athletics Association, we operated the Association for 9 months without a secretary, who is usually posted from the Ministry of Sports. The former secretary was withdrawn and a new one was never sent, so,he could not meet formally, but met only informally.
Gara-Gombe also revealed, ‘During the AFN elections, I wrote a letter requesting support from the State Government through the Commissioner of Sports, addressed to the Ag. Director of Sports and copied to the SSG. Up till now, none of them replied, despite the fact that Yobe and Bauchi states were prepared to support me.’
He, however, said, ‘But during the elections, the Ministry of Sports sent someone called Kabiru to impersonate me and vote on my behalf at the Bauchi Zonal Elections and the National Elections in Abuja. The Constitution of AFN clearly states who has the right to vote.’
The founder of the academy pointed out that all the athletes in the academy were discovered by them and signed contracts with their parents.
‘We pay their school fees and provide uniforms, books, shoes, beverages, and medical insurance. Therefore, no student should join the State Contingent to Asaba.’
He added, ‘We trained 60 primary school games masters and 54 secondary school games masters. With all these efforts, we never received a single commendation from the State.’
The former Gombe FA chairman further said, ‘At the last Youth Games, the state could not send a contingent. We had to sponsor our academy athletes 100% without a single kobo from the state government, which saved the state from paying a fine. Our athletes won medals for Gombe State, yet till today there has been no letter of appreciation from the Ministry of Sports’.
Gara-Gombe promised to report the issues to the appropriate institutions for investigation, since the state government is not ready to act.
He wondered why the SSG never honors the invitations sent to him from the Academy nor sends a representative, ‘but whenever the F.A. Chairman Yakubu Sarma organizes any event, no matter how irrelevant, the SSG attends without fail. The records of my communications with the SSG are available.’
’I am always surprised that the SSG, who often calls me and asks me to be patient whenever I openly complain about certain things in government, always ignores my official letters either requesting government support or inviting him to our functions,’ Gombe concluded.
