South West Coaches Petition Sports Minister, Want Yusuf Sacked From Judo Committee Now

IKPO IGBINOBA

 
Enraged by the continued presence of Mr Bolaji Yusuf on the caretaker committee of the Nigeria Judo Federation, coaches in the south west zone have petitioned the Sports Minister.

Two weeks ago, the Ekiti judo coach Morakinyo Akinwale fired the first salvo when he appealed to the Sports Minister to sack Yusuf from the ad-hoc committee. The committee was set up to steer the affairs of dissolved federations before elections are conducted later in the year.

Coach Akinwale anchored his protest on the grounds that aside from not being a judoka,  Mr. Yusuf failed woefully in the four years he spent on the board as representative of the south west zone

.Last Friday, the other coaches in the zone took a similar position as coach Akinwale in a petition and demanded the immediate sacking of Yusuf.

The coaches who signed the petition were the chief coach of Lagos State,  Janet Omorodion, head coach of Ogun State, Christy Obekpa, and head coach of Osun State, Fasina Olawale.

Others were the Ondo State head coach, Oluwatoyin Ojo, Ekiti State head coach, Morakinyo Akinwale, and Oyo State head coach, Sunday Akinwunmi.

In the strongly-worded petition, the coaches informed the Minister that Mr. Yusuf lacked the qualities to be on the committee.

The coaches described  Yusuf’s four year tenure on the dissolved NJF board as “monumental failure there for all to see”

They went further:  “He cannot boast of any achievement while he lasted in the office.”No activity for four years. We mean no programme, no matter how small”.

They blamed the embattled Yusuf for the dwindling fortunes of judo in their zone.

“His incompetence and wherewithal deficit no doubt caused the poor performance of the zone at the just concluded National Sports Festival”.

The coaches also took a swipe at Mr Yusuf for failing to fulfil all the promises he made.

According to them “All the promises he made to  calm nerves after the controversial election that brought him into the system ended as mere retrogressive political statements”.

They appealed to the Minister to replace Mr. Yusuf “immediately with a serious, responsible and responsive individual”.

The coaches prayed the Minister to promptly consider their petition and further strengthen their trust in his leadership which they hailed as repositioning Nigerian sports.