Controversy trails NTTF’s technical & players reps election, as majority of delegates boycott poll

What is supposed to be a successful Nigeria Table Tennis Federation’s technical & Players representatives election, held Wednesday, September, 10 at the knockout Hall of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation, National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, was marred by controversy following boycott of the election by delegates of other zones who accused the electoral umpire of bias and not following guidelines stipulated by the National Sports Commission in the conduct of the polls.

Trouble stated when delegates from North Central, North West, North East, South South and South East discovered that they were being shortchanged in the whole electoral process by Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states who mobilized underaged and unqualified persons to vote for their preferred candidates with the support of the Federation and the electoral body.

This led to the delegates of other zones boycotting the election with a call on the leadership of the National Sports Commission to cancel the election and organize another one in a neutral ground where proper accreditation and hitchfree exercise will be conducted

The aggrieved delegates explained that a total of 74 delegates compromising of a coach and one athlete representative from each state of the Federation and the FCT who will present a letter of identification signed by their various state’s Director of Sports are eligible to vote in the election but to their greatest surprise some states came with more than 50 delegates which they described as not only unacceptable but illegal.

They accused the electoral body of bias and playing out a script written by some individuals with a warning that if the right things are not done, it will not only set the game backwards but cause disunity in the Federation.

” Prior to our coming here for this election, we were told that each state will send a coach and one athlete, making the total number of delegates to be 74. They also requested that we should get a letter of introduction from our various Director of Sports, which we did.

“But on getting here, we discovered that Lagos Ogun and Oyo came with Coaster buses full of people and they were allowed to vote. They even allowed players as young as 9-10 years to vote and because of that, we decided to boycott the election because it was a kangaroo exercise.

Speaking further on why they boycotted the election, incumbent technical representative, Coach Kehinde Aiyelabegan from Kwara State accused the chairman of the electoral committee of compromise. He lamented that there was a lot of manipulation in the entire process, which allowed more than 100 coaches to vote in the election.
On his word, ” The person I am contesting against is from Lagos, chairman of the electoral committee is from Lagos and the venue of the election is also Lagos which is very unfair.

” I complained to the President of the Federation and I also made him understand that the rules used in this election was never for one day discussed in our board meeting but he didn’t do anything. It’s quite unfortunate that they gathered people from all nook and crannies of Lagos and Ogun States to come and vote for them and that’s why we are protesting the entire process and insisting that the election should be cancelled because it was a charade and open day robbery.

Also speaking, Lawal Mohammed, head Coach of Kaduna State, Abdulmaseed Olatunde , coach of Sokoto State, Yushau Bello, Kebbi State coach, Otumba Adeyemo Mohid Tajudeen, head coach Katsina State and Kayode Oshodi, head coach, Benue State all condemned the election, calling for it’s cancellation.

” What we saw here today is very unfortunate and if allowed to stand, will not help in the development of the game of table tennis, rather it will lead to several disagreements and a draw back on the administration of the game because most of the players will not trust those representing them”, began the coaches.

“We came here for a free and fair election that will produce true representatives of the people but the whole process was manipulated under the supervision of the President of the Federation.

” How can they tell us that only 74 delegates will vote and be voted for only for us to come here and discover that more than three hundred people voted in the charade they called election. This is not only unfair but criminal.

“We are calling on the National Sports Commission ably led by Mallam Shehu Dikk and the Director General, Hon. Bukola Olopade to cancel the election, disband the electoral committee and organize a more transparent election in a neutral venue where the electoral guidelines will be followed to the later,”, they demanded.

Lending their voices to the call for the cancellation of the election, Coach Boniface Akunna from Anambra State and a candidate for athletes’ representative, Vivian Ozurumba from Imo State as well as a player from Kebbi State,Abdulahi Yusuf explained that they were taken aback with what played out in the election accusing the electoral committee chairman of bias and manipulation of the entire process to favour some select candidates from Lagos State.
In the words of Coach Akunna, ” I came here with some South East coaches to hear from the contestants and know whether they can convince us to vote for them only for us to discover that 90% of those voting are from Lagos.

“To worsen the matter, I even saw players as young as 9-10 years voting and when I accosted one of them, he told me he was not representing any state that he represented a club which is an anomaly. I told the President of the Federation that what they’re doing is not acceptable to me but he looked the other way. They should tell us if table tennis in this country is for one man business or for everybody and that’s why we’re calling for the cancellation of the entire election “, he concluded.