N54m disappears from NPL coffers

Baribote explaining what happened

*Baribote may face impeachment

With a new chairman and in less than 20 days, about N54m is alleged to have been spent leaving the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) in new colours of debt and a threat to the conclusion of the remaining matches of the league this season.

When the Victor Baribote leadership took over, they were said to have been handed N54 million. A copy of the bank statement which Shehu Gusau as acting chairman delivered to Baribote was sighted.

At the board meeting last Tuesday, an inside source revealed that the NPL chairman, Rumson Victor Baribote, told the members that he inherited N11million. Par logic, N43m had disappeared!

By the accounting procedure the NPL Chairman has an approval ceiling of N1m. He may have by what he claims he got have spent N42m beyond that ceiling!
The situation was so bad that board members could not get their sitting allowance after the Tuesday meeting. There was an almost exchange of fisticuff by members on both sides of the divide.

Staffers of the league secretariat will live on the reality of not collecting their salaries at the end of the month. The remaining league matches of the over-stretched current season will certainly be another victim.

Insider sources alleged that about N5m was used to re-furnish the office of the Chairman of the NPL. Other details are yet to come to the surface.
It will recalled that $238,000 similarly disappeared from the vaults of the parent Nigeria Football Federation with no trace till date.

With this development, there are several infractions of the rules and procedures of management of the NPL which may force the board of the body to either accommodate this latest development and sustain a bad image not good for corporate support or indict by impeachment the chairman as a temporary medium to return some sanity.

This is in the view of the fact that the former chairman of the NPL, Davidson Owumi is still in court and may upturn the temporary entry of Victor Baribote in the court room. Owumi is in the Court of Appeal where he is on a preliminary basis seeking for contempt trial against the NFF and Baribote.

Egbunike’s appointment is best decision in recent times – Edet

*Congratulates Itanyi for Hall of Fame award

Immediate past national athletics coach, Emelia Edet, has described the recent media reports of the appointment of Innocent Egbunike as the national coach as the best decision that would have been taken in the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) in recent times.

Coach Edet in a telephone interview said, “to me, and that is being sincere too, the decision to appoint Egbunike is the best thing they could have done and that could have happened to Nigerian athletics.”

She quickly added, “I hope they are not thinking of appointing him for the purpose of the London 2012 Olympics? Yes, the Egbunike I know, if given all the support and room to operate professionally can change some things in terms of the performance of the country in London. I would be happier if they allow him build a four-year programme of development, in the first instance.”

“If they want him to succeed, they should give him the free hand to nominate his own assistants. A situation where they pack some assistants for him will not only slow him down but make his appointment a non-sense. I believe in him but what about the environment in which he will work?

On the induction of Pat Itanyi, Edet said, “I am really happy for her. She deserves the recognition even if Nigerian officials lack the perception to appreciate what she’s doing for the country. It is sad that while Nigeria spurn their great athletes, they are being honoured and celebrated abroad. That tells you something is wrong with our system. I am really proud of her.”