GWR Fight: Bash Ali writes open letter to the President
After writing series of letters to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, which were not acknowledged, former World Boxing Federation Cruiserweight Champion, Bash Ali OON has finally written an open letter to the President intimating him about how top government officials are frustrating his planned Guinness World Record Boxing fight.
In the letter dated April, 25, 2025, the champion informed the President that he decided to make the letter open after it was discovered that several letters he wrote to the number one citizen were blocked; insisting that 90% of those working with Mr. President don’t want him to succeed but that he’s sure the President will succeed in repositioning the country.
According to him, a Guinness World Record Boxing Championship fight has never held on the soil of Africa but his would be the first and the most lucrative even as he informed the President that 132 countries are coming to Nigeria to be part of the boxing history while over 46 thousand people have agreed to buy ringside tickets at the rate of $500 to watch this historic fight in the country.
He stated that to make this a reality in Nigeria, the Federal Government had on three occasions under the regime’s of President Olusegun Obasanjo 2006, President Goodluck Jonathan, 2014 and President Muhammadu Buhari, 2019 inaugurated the Bash Ali Boxing Project Local Organizing Committee (LOC) with the private sector to find the historic fight while the Federal Government will provide an enabling environment but because of corrupt praticces, the LOC is yet to achieve its mandate.
The champion further explained that the Federal Government has written a letter to the World Boxing Bodies to guarantee their safety in Nigeria and to reassure them that the Ministry of Youth and Sports now National Sports Commission (NSC) would facilitate the timely release of the fight money domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria by the private sector but expressed regret that this is yet to happen.
“The FGN through the office of the Chief of Staff staff to the President has received an advance payment of $12M USD, while some top officials of the Ministry extorted N13M from me and a former Minister of Youth and Sports, tried and failed to extort $1M from me which stalled the historic fight because I said no to corruption.
“I met the Chairman of NSC, Mallam Shehu Dikko on November 13, 2024 and he wants to re-inaugurate the LOC so we can go on with the FGN’s mandate but he was prevented from doing that by some criminal elements in government who are sabotaging the economy of the country”, he alleged
Bash Ali finally appealed to Mr. President to in the spirit of the RENEWED HOPE AGENDA, call for the immediate re-inauguration of the LOC so that all the obstacles caused by corruption would be knocked out for the historic fight to hold
He also wants his allegations against some people in government whom he accused of extorting money from him to be investigated and his money returned instead of sweeping his accusation under the carpet
