Nasarawa United Football Club held hostage in Uyo over unpaid N100,000 hotel bills
By Tor Terkura Acka, Lafia

, Players owed N110m sign-on fees

Officials and players of Nasarawa United Football Club returned home to Lafia on Tuesday after been held hostage for days over its failure to settle N100,000 hotels bills in Uyo at the weekend.






The players and team officials were released after the Akwa Ibom government paid the bill.

The players were in Uyo to play Akwa United in the ongoing 'Globacom' Premier League. Nasarawa United lost the match by 3-1.

An official of the club, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told our reporter in Lafia that all efforts to get the Nasarawa State Sports Commission to save the team and officials from the embarrassment proved abortive.

The official said they were held hostage by the hotel management, where they had lodged when they could not pay their hotel bills.

Despite frantic efforts made by the club officials in far away Uyo to get across to the state sports Commissioner, Mohammed Envulu'Anza, to save the situation was to no avail.

When our correspondent called on the state sports commissioner to ascertain the veracity of the report, we were told that he was not on seat but we however gathered that the Commissioner's efforts at saving the club from the embarrassment proved abortive.

Also effort to reach him on phone failed as his phone was switched

off despite the fact that he was in the office earlier in the day.

One of the club's supporters, who spoke with us on the current development, decried the government's lukewarm attitude to sports.

He said during the administration of former governor, Abdullahi Adamu, players where given N15,000 as feeding allowance but observed that this has changed as players started by collecting N5,000 as feeding money but has now been further reduced to N1, 500.

We also gathered that Nasarawa United players were still being owed their sign-on fee amounting to about N110 million.

The team is currently occupying the last position on the league table and it's faced with the threat of relegation.

http://odili.net/news/source/2009/jan/22/715.html