The much speculative intra-class conflict between the chairman of Kano Pillars Football Club and the board members of the club has now turned to be a reality.
This is following the letter the secretary of the board Comrade Dr. Sani Ibrahim written and forwarded to the Secretary of the Kano State Government for intervention.
Prior to the released of the secretary’s letter there were complaint of an unsportsmanlike behavior from the chairman of the club for sidelining the government appointed board from the club’s activities.
The letter was addressed to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the State SSG and copied to the Deputy Governor, Chief of Staff to the Governor, Commissioner for Rural and Youth, Chairman, Sports Committee of the House of Assembly and many other places.
I was privileged to glance at the copy of the letter and what I saw vindicated all the assertions I raised in my previous write-ups.
Content of the letter clearly shows how, Dr. Sani Ibrahim carefully serialized all they did in trying to make the chairman know or understand that what he is doing singly without the board’s input were wrong and there is a need for redress but ignored them.
The secretary accused the chairman of not showing any sign of purposeful leadership and commitment to serve as assigned to him by the Kano state government under leadership of Engr Abba Kabir Yusuf.
He pointed out that the chairman has been running the club singly from 23rd of June this year to date without the board’s consent or approval which he said was contrary to Section 1 of the guiding rules and regulations of the board.
The secretary revealed that under section 2 of the guiding rules for the board, it during one of its meetings after inauguration by the SSG formed five standing committees to ease its day to day operations but the chairman singlehandedly with no cogent reasons dissolved them.
He also stated the management committee’s dissatisfaction on how the chairman executed sports tours to Asaba, Delta state for NNL Super Eight, Bauchi and other trips without the board’s knowledge.
The secretary raised eyebrows on the recruitment of 30-36 technical crew positions for both Kano Pillars FC senior team, Kano Pillars FC junior team, Kano Pillars FC Under 15 and Kano Pillars Under 13 and also the recruitment of supporting staffers of all the teams listed above which had no board’s input at all.
The secretary also suspected the chairman of establishing his secretariat and board members out of the ones appointed by the government and operating in a different secretariat different from the one of the team for selfish interest.
Comrade Sani Ibrahim also indicted the chairman for disallowing the club’s out-gone secretary to handover the club’s activities to him.
He lastly pointed out that all efforts to reconcile them by the Chairman House Committee on Sports of the state assembly, former SA on Youth and Sports and SSA on Sports proved abortive as the chairman refused to change his attitudes.
There are many other issues which the board members are very angry with the chairman ranging from the exact number of old players Kano Pillars sold to other clubs and the exact amount raised.
They also want to know the amount paid on the payment of players’ registration and transfer fees.
And a few hours after the receipt of the letter, It was gathered that the Kano State Commissioner of Rural Development who is the acting Commissioner of Sports, Alhaji Hamza Safiyanu Kachako has called for an immediate meeting of the board.
Even though the exact venue of the meeting was not disclosed, it was said to be aimed at finding a lasting solution to the crisis that has torn Kano Pillars FC board into two which is embarrassing to the government and also not a good development for the team.
But honestly the calling of the meeting even though a little bit late is a good development but I expect the acting sports commissioner of sports to call Babangida Little, the chairman to order and ask him to stop acting like a military administrator to the team.
The acting sports commissioner should tell the chairman that the government of his Excellency if a transparent government whosoever wants to work with it must be the same.
He should either go with the norms and values of Kwankwasiyya or leave.
The commissioner should tell the chairman to either be ready to work with the board members or opt out and form his team and run it the way he wants.
He should also be told that Kano Pillars FC only recently got promoted to the elite division, so nobody will be allowed to return it back to the lower division with his bad leadership style.
I was opportune to listen to the Nasara radio interview between the presenter of a sports programme “Taskar wasanni” Muhammad Wasilu Kawo and one Tijjani Shehu Yahaya who revealed that there is a big problem in the Pillars fold.
According to Tijjani, he and Wasilu were all members of the Kano Pillars FC Marketing and Media committee before that programme but because of the happenings in the team, they have removed themselves by resigning from the task shouldered to them by the board.
According to Tijjani, ever since they were given the task, they have been working all day and all night meeting, connecting and meeting people and establishments to come and sponsor or place advertisements in the team but the chairman of the club is not encouraging or appreciating their efforts.
He made mention of a particular bank that they contacted which even sent their team to Kano from Abuja for discussion and showed interest and willingness to pay millions of Naira for placing their brand on Pillars shirts but were ignored and discouraged by the chairman.
To reduce its overdependence on government for funds, Tijjani made mention of various ways their committee intended to make money for Kano Pillars through various strategies but the club’s chairman is not interested and always turned them back.
In fact so many ills that refused working in harmony between the chairman of the club and his management committee members were exposed in that interview. And I wonder why the chairman is looking or taking the club as his personal property.
With all these and many more the chairman should be told point blank that Kano Pillars FC is owned by the state and the people of the state.
The chairman should be told of an Hausa adage: “Cin dare daya…”
