Athletes in Ondo State Sports Council has called on the State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu to relieve the Commissioner for Sports, Saka Yusuf-Ogunleye of his duties.
The athletes made this known at the protest staged in Akure, over non – payment of their allowances for 16 months, by the state government on Monday.
The athletes claimed the commissioner for sports is sabotaging the efforts of the governor.
The angry athletes said that Ondo state government is not owing workers salary but athletes are yet to receive their allowances for 16 months.
Some of the placards the protesters carried read , ”We need our allowance , enough is enough”, “All we are saying, pay our 16 months stipends , enough is enough !”, ”No alert, no opening of gates”, among others. They also sang various anti-government songs during the protest.
One of the protesters who spoke to www.aclsports.com on the condition of anonymity said, “The governor does not owe workers one kobo, why should they owe sports men and women; you should know that something is fishy.
“Governor Akeredolu cleared the backlogs of salaries owed by the past administration but ours was not cleared. They have no t paid our allowances in 16 months”.
Another athlete said, “Before we departed for the National Sports Festival, the commissioner and his team went on radio to tell the world that we will receive 5,000 per day but when we got to the festival, we were given 2,000. Some athletes got 23,000 while others 26,000 or so.
“This is unfair to us considering the fact that most of us have families we cater for”.
We are calling on His Excellency, Rotimi Akeredolu to do the needful by either relieving the commissioner for sports of his duties or transferring him to another ministry so that sports men and women can be happy”, he added.
“The staff of the ministry of sports and sports council should always remember that without athletes, they cannot have a job, they should consider us and pay us our money, we beg our governor to please intervene , ” he said
