Heartland FC: Commissioner, Deputy Speaker told to hands off club
From Johnkennedy Uzoma, Owerri.
South East Coordinator of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club, Hon.Eric Ihemtuge has advised the Imo state Commissioner for Youths and Sports Development Dan Ogu and the Deputy Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly Hon.Chyna Amarachi Iwuanyanwu to hands off the running of Heartland FC of Owerri.
Speaking with the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria SWAN, Imo State chapter in Owerri, Ihemtuge advised them to allow the General Manager of the club, Ifeanyi Chukwudi to do the job for which he was appointed.
He reminded the duo that their job as top officials of the government in power is purely to advise the management of the club on how to move the team to the next level and not to take over the day to day running of the club.
He called on the Governor of Imo State Sen. Hope Uzodimma to as a matter of urgency call his men who had usurped the job of the club’s GM to order.
He pointing out that sports, especially club management is purely a professional sector that requires knowledgeable persons who understand the dynamics of the game to handle.
“Football management is not politics and this is what those hijacking the club must realize and the governor needs to be put in the picture of what is happening and call his men to order,” Ihemtuge said.
A patron of SWAN, Ihemtuge condemned in strong term what he described as “undue interference” in the day to day running of the club by government officials which according to him has continued to negatively affect the club.
He also beckoned on Governor Hope Uzodimma to urgently look into the other problems bedevling the club with a view to resolving the matters, even as he charged Imo sportswriters to keep doing their bit in the effort to make Imo sports better.
