Ayade’s Commissioner for Sports called a thug by Cross River Sports Commission Boss

Trouble brewed at the U.J.Esuene Stadium in Calabar on Monday following a misunderstanding between two aides of the Cross River State governor, Professor Ben Ayade over office spaces.

Chief Offu Aya the State Commissioner for Sports and Emmanuel Elom the  Chairman of the Cross River State Sports Commission were involved in a grave altercation as regards who occupies the office spaces at the Stadium.

The altercation, the first of its kind among public officials in the state, lead to a temporary shutdown of the stadium complex and the cancelation of a scheduled meeting between the new chairman of the State Sports Commission and some athletes in the state.

Narrating the incident, Emmanuel Elom the State Sports Commission chairman said “A few months down the line after we went to be cleared by the State House of Assembly and came back, we are still wandering and I have been working from my car. So I got to meet with Commissioner for Sports and Cinematography and reminded him of our earlier discussion as regards his moving to his permanent office.

“But when we met as a board, we came up with a unilateral decision that we have to occupy our offices so that we can hit the ground running.  So we did a letter to him asking him to vacate to his own permanent place within seven days so that we can occupy our office.

“A day after the letter was dispatched, I placed a call to him and he did not answer only for me to come to office this morning and discovered that there were thugs in the office. I went to the VIP Lounge where I work from and I discovered that the thugs were sitting there, smoking hemp and drinking hot drinks. When I saw this, I could not stand it and decided to go to the Commissioner to find out what happened.

“As turned to go, one of the thugs got up and slapped me from behind. The Commissioner came with a whip and they started beating me with whips and machetes, took my phones and broke my eye-glasses. I kept quiet because this is official and if you have an official issue, why do you bring in thugs to attack the commission and its members?”

According to the Commission’s Chairman, he had to make a call to the State Security Adviser’s office and the Commissioner of Police with the only phone left on him “because they were carrying charm and I am surprised that a Commissioner could reduce himself to behave like a tout, reducing the high office of a commissioner to that of a thug.”

 “The law that established the commission made it clear that the commission will be in charge of everything sports, from organization, implementation and all.  The responsibility of the sports ministry is to formulate policy while the implementation rests with the commission. These issues are clear. This is an aberration; it should not be and will not be.

 “The commissioner for youths is occupying his office but the Commissioner for Sports and Cinematograph moved into the stadium alleging that the governor told him that there  will be no commission. But if you come and realize that there is a commission, does that not tell you that as a responsible citizen  you should start initiating the process of moving back to your office so that this altercation will not happen. He has acted irresponsibly and I am very embarrassed,” the Sports commission boss said.

Efforts to reach the Commissioner for Sports and Cinematography, Chief Offu Aya proved abortive.

Confirming the incident, Etim Coco Bassey, Director of Facilities and Stadium manager said “I don’t know why he did what he did, he is more elderly than all of them that is why I went to him and said we should see how they can resolve the issue so that there can be peace because we had issues with the other chairman and the commissioner and we don’t want this kind of thing to continue”, he said. 

Also speaking, Jude Amadi, Director of Sports in the state said “This morning we were supposed to meet with the athletes and the Chairman wanted to address them, know how they are faring and also know how to alleviate their hardship during this period.

“After assembling the athletes, I went to call the chairman only to find him being held hostage by some guys wielding koboko. I later learnt they were sent by the commissioner for Sports and Cinematography to act the way they acted”, he said.