It is no more news that Kano Pillars Football Club is floating in the waters of serious financial crisis which bookmakers described as the greatest impediment to its 2023/24 Nigeria Professional Football League title ambition.
And unless the sole owner of the team, Kano State Government under the able leadership Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf did something urgently to save the situation, the club’s impressive performance in the ongoing league will not only dwindle but go down to relegation to the lower division (God forbid).
That is why all of us see Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano state as the only messiah. Therefore, the governor needs to do something and rescue the team from losing its grip in the league top position and save it from going down on the league table or even being relegated.
I know His Excellency is fully aware or in the picture of all that Kano Pillars FC is doing in the league. The club is doing well and in fact very well from the beginning of the Nigeria Professional Football League up to the end of first round.
But sadly Kano Pillars FC’s impressive show in the ongoing league is diminishing or has started to go down due to the financial crisis.
We all know that it is the financial problems that the state darling football team aka Sai Masu Gida is swimming deeply in that is affecting the players, their coaches and the entire management of the club.
His Excellency needs to know that as at present Kano Pillars is in a big debt crisis to the tune of millions of Naira.
My investigations and findings revealed that ever since the Babangida Little led management board was appointed in the early days of the present administration, the government did not release a penny to the club to move the team forward.
That was why the club had to look elsewhere and borrow from outside to finance its activities to keep the club moving.
My discovery further discovered that the club first borrowed to sponsor its trip to Abuja for DSTV Super Eight and also borrowed again to honor its NNL Super Eight trip to Asaba, the Delta state capital.
It was in Delta state that the club played well and triumphed to play in the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) which is now doing very well after finishing second to Heartland FC of Owerri.
The team was reported to have borrowed for all its pre-season preparations in Daura and Bauchi and other locations.
His Excellency also needs to know that after the commencement of the league early this year, many expected things to change where it will receive the bulk of its budgetary allocations from the government but the situation remained the same as up to now nothing was released to the club.
I was reliably being told that the team used to request for the needed funds on a weekly basis for its home and away matches from the government which after approval was granted, they looked elsewhere to borrow and continued with their plans which made the team to be heavily indebted.
I also gathered that the inability of the club to start repaying back the bulk of money it borrowed from borrowers had forced the creditors to change mind as they don’t want to release more money to the club anymore because the club has reneged on the repayment plan.
I also gathered that the club is now number one debtor in the whole country because it is indebted to the tune of over N70 million even though there is a conflicting figure by the secretary of Kano Pillars Management Board Comrade Sani Ibrahim aka Coach who insisted that the amount is not up to that huge amount.
I was also being reliably told that even the ministry of sports had to borrow over N30 million for the team to continue its season’s activities.
His Excellency the governor of Kano state needs to know that the paucity of funds is seriously affecting the club in so many ways as the club as at now is not being able to pay players’ and officials match bonuses.
The club is also unable to pay the officials and players’ sign-on fees as promised to them before the commencement of the league.
I also gathered that unlike other government appointees in the state, over nine months after their appointment as chairman and board members of the Kano Pillars FC management board, none of them have started receiving his monthly allowance.
I also gathered that the club is finding it difficult to solve its day-to-day pressing needs which is also affecting the morale of all its workers even though they used to get some substantial amounts of money from gate takings during their home matches.
The management needs to honestly inform the government where and what they are doing with that huge amount of money they used to get during their home matches.
At this point I want to appeal to His Excellency the governor of Kano state, Engr Abba Kabir Yusuf to look at Kano Pillars FC and its financial demands so that he can graciously lift them out of the financial crisis it found itself in.
The governor needs to study their demands thoroughly and carefully so that the most urgent needs will be treated once and for all.
His Excellency need not allow the financial mess the team is facing now to affect it and lose the grip of its present highly spirited form.
Since the problem of the team is identified as financial, the management of the team should be asked to come forward and defend on all they requested before being released.
Allah ya kara maka lafiya da nisan kwano. ameen sir.
