Edo state athletes are currently stranded in Benin after the postponement of the 2020 National Sports Festival, www.aclsports.com gathered.
Multiple sources close to the camp of the athletes told www.aclsports.com that the state government owes the athletes 15 days camp allowances.
One of the stranded athlete said the state has blatantly refused to pay their camp allowances since the pronouncement of the postponed National Sports Festival on Thursday.
He said, “Immediately President Muhammadu Buhari approved the postponement of the National Sports Festival, we expected that the host, Edo state government will pay our camp allowances but till now we have not seen any alert. They promised to get back to us before 10am today but nothing has changed.
“Some of the athletes who could not bear the hardship have told their family members to send them transport fare pending when Edo state government attend to them”.
Another athlete who confided in www.aclsports.com said the facilities and equipment in hosting the games are on ground but the athletes are not taken care of.
He noted that it took series of meeting and protest to ensure the right things are done to the athletes in camp.
He said, “We can see through the television advert given to various stations in the country that Edo state is ready to host the game. In fact the sports minister, Sunday Dare was on ground to see the level of preparedness but the athletes are passing through hell.
“We have been intimidated by top government officials in the state but we will not be discouraged and do our best for Edo state”.
