Bash Ali Blames Osinbajo, Chief of Staff, Dare For Delay In Staging World Title Fight In Nigeria

World Boxing Federation (WBF) cruiserweight champion, Bashiru Lawrence Ali (OON), popularly called Bash Ali, has chided people working closely with President Muhammadu Buhari for not doing enough to ensure that what the president stands for is expressively showing in the running of the government.

Bash Ali, who is gunning to have his name written in the Guinness Book of World Record as the oldest man to step on boxing ring in the much-awaited world boxing championship was irked by the attitude of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari when he brought to their attention his plight and how the Minister of Sports, Sunday Dare has been frustrating the staging of the Guinness World Record Boxing Championship in Nigeria.

Bash Ali alleged in a letter he wrote to the Vice President dated 27 July, 2021 that “a tree cannot make a forest so the problem of Nigeria is not President Muhammadu Buhari but you, his Vice President, his Chief of staff, Prof Ibrahim Gambari, Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Akin Dare and most of the bad ministers and the bad people around the President because instead of being his eyes and ears to help him make Nigeria a better country, you guys are busy retarding the growth of Nigeria by not paying attention to positive ideas that will make Nigeria a great country. I say most not all.”

He said in the letter that despite the fact that he contributed his positive quota to the development of sports in Nigeria, which earned him a national honour from the government of ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) because of my Promotions and financial contributions to the development of Youths and Sport in Nigeria, awarded me the highest national honor ever given to a Nigerian athlete, Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON). At the reception, I was told not to rest on my oars but to do more for my country so I can get more honors but in the process of trying to do more for my country I committed an UNPARDONABLE crime by having the guts to say NO to CORRUPTION & BAD ADMINISTRATION,” the aged boxer lamented, adding: “Sport is one of the biggest industries in the world so Minister Sunday Dare should be competing with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation in generating income for the FGN but because he cannot think outside of the box and he is not PATRIOTIC, he puts himself FIRST, says to hell with Nigeria and prefers to go cap in hand to beg the FGN for money to run his Ministry. It is SAD, very SAD.”

Narrating his grudge against the Vice President and the Chief of Staff to the President, Bash Ali wrote in the letter: “As the Vice President of Nigeria, Sports is part of your portfolio. I met with you twice when you were the head of Nigeria’s Economic Team and I discussed with you this historic event and I gave you a letter of Proposal with my telephone numbers and twice you asked me if my number was in the letter so you could reach me. I told you yes and I took out a pen and once again wrote my numbers on the front page of my letter. I gave you a boxing glove and a Tee Shirt with the picture of President Buhari and I with the inscription “JOIN US TO KNOCKOUT CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA”. I shook your hand and you promised to call me. That was in 2018. Since then, I have called you a million times without answer or call back or reply my texts. I was surprised when I saw you on television trying to inspire the Nigerian athletes to win laurels at the Olympics meanwhile, these athletes see the way you treat their HERO Bash Ali like a piece of sh*t and it kills their spirits. They cannot be inspired by your speech because they know that you don’t mean it.

“The Chief of Staff to President Buhari is a member of the LOC inaugurated by the FGN. I met him at home in a relaxed mood on Friday April 23, 2021. We were together for about an hour and had interesting conversation about how to make Nigeria a great country and how this historic Fight would be a step in the right direction. I gave him all the relevant documents for the Historic Event and T- Shirts with the image of President Buhari and I advertising the first Guinness World Record Boxing Championship Fight on the soil of Africa. He promised to get back to me next week. It is now over 3 months and it is the same experience I have with you that I have with him. He will not answer his calls. He will not call back and he will not reply texts.”

The world champion rhetorically asked the two senior officials of the Nigerian government if truly they are patriotic in serving the country and be the eyes of President Buhari in the running the government.

“What kind of a country is this? Are you guys not PUBLIC SERVANTS? Are you not in office to serve the people? Are you guys not supposed to be President Buhari‟’ eyes and ears as a team to help move Nigeria forward? The POSITIVE change we ask for MUST start with you guys. I am not happy with you and I demand an apology from you for ignoring me. Don’t you know that I am a WORLD BOXING CHAMPION & a WORLD CITIZEN?”

Nevertheless, Bash Ali said all is not lost if only the needful can be done to rewrite the wrong they have done to him by ensuring that Minister Sunday Dare is called to order and he is ordered to swing into action for the realization of the Guinness World Record Boxing Championship in Nigeria because there are lots to gain if the fight is allowed to hold in Nigeria.

He said: “I respectfully ask that Minister Sunday Akin Dare should be re-directed to call for a meeting with members of the LOC to plan how to host this historic event in Nigeria or Ministry of Special Duties should be directed to host this Historic Event or you should setup a Task Force that would handle the hosting of this Historic Fight and be reporting directly to you.

“That Minister Sunday Dare should return to me the money he extorted from me in the name of President Buhari. 3. To give me the opportunity to meet with President Buhari to present to him the Fight souvenirs and a custom-made Boxing Glove to KNOCKOUT CORRUPTION and BAD ADMINISTRATION in Nigeria.”