President of Nigeria Hockey Federation (NHF), Senator Abdul Ahmed Ninngi has described the appointment of Solomon Dalung as Nigeria’s minister of Youth and Sports as a misnomer which will finally destroy sports in the country.

The former senator who disclosed that he accepted to answer the clarion call of lovers of hockey in the country to lead the federation because of his passion for the sport noted that the worst thing that has happened to sports in the country is handing it over to people who have no passion for it.

He argued that Dalung has never, from the day he assumed office as youth and sports minister shown Nigerians the reasons to believe he can lead the sector that unites the country.

Arguing that the Plateau state born minister has taken sports far below and worse than the level he met it, Senator Ninngi told NAIJ.com, “You can see for yourself, the minister of youth and sports and his men shunned this all important tournament that attracted both players and ex-players to Abuja. Not even one of his directors was here to represent the ministry.”

According to the NHF President, the federation formally informed the ministry of the tournament well ahead of time and even few days to the closing ceremony the minister was officially reminded but to their dismay, the minister did not only shun the tournament but could not send a representative.

He maintained that any appointment that would affect the country negatively like that of Dalung should not be made at all. Senator Ninngi lamented that the minister has rather than taking sports to greater heights succeeded in destroying it beyond repairs.

He said the attitude of the minister towards other sports besides football is a destructive statement from a man bestowed with the responsibility to steer the ship of sports safely to the shores.

He added that a minister of federal Republic should not select which of the responsibilities to tackle or not to tackle based on sentiment.

“You can’t believe it that the minister is not hiding his disenchantment for other sports which has caused unexplainable neglect of both the sports and their athletes.

He pointed out that the failure of hockey to represent the country at the forthcoming Rio 2016 Olympic Games was largely due to the refusal of Dalung and his ministry to support the federation during the qualifiers.

“We approached him before the qualifiers but instead he discouraged us. They in the ministry claimed that any money given to Hockey Federation towards preparations for Olympics was a waste since they were rock sure we would not qualify for the Games. How could a minister make such utterances?”

Senator Ninngi maintained that he has no reason to be afraid of speaking out adding that by the virtue of being a Senator of the Federal Republic, he cannot see the wrong thing happening and keep mute.

The former lawmaker declared that he never begged to be made President of sports federation and maintained that he has nothing to lose afterwards since he became President of NHF – it is his resources that he has been spending.

He recalled how the Youth and Sports ministry approved that the federation should source for funds to prosecute an international tournament with a promise to refund when the money is available but to his greatest surprise, both the minister and his ministry are not ready to hear anything about that issue again.

He wondered how a federation that produced two teams in the continent’s best four and five in both men and women national teams and number three best clubs in the continent cannot qualify a team to Olympics.

It could be recalled that stakeholders have accused the minister of not showing commitment to ending the crises rocking the country’s football while some accused him of being a major beneficiary of the crisis.

https://www.naij.com/911575-senator-lambasts-buharis-minister.html

that's what you get when your president is an iliterate.