Your Excellency Sir, I will start by congratulating you on your victory at the Supreme Court last Friday which has no doubt rested all the difficulties you faced arising from the 2023 General Elections.
Sir, you must know that what happened that led to the court actions was unfortunate and I am appealing to you to put everything behind and move on to make Kano better.
I urge you to focus on the delivery of good governance to the people of Kano state regardless of their political leanings. You should be magnanimous and treat people equally.
Sir, I want you to know that the interest of the masses must be most paramount without any restriction or discrimination whether based on political persuasion or otherwise. I pray for your tenure to be prosperous for all our people and the state.
l also joined the millions of Kano state people in rejoicing and congratulating you on your victory and praying for Allah’s guidance throughout your first and second tenure, Ameen.
I urged the entire populace of Kano state including those from the opposition to rally round behind you and support you to achieve all you want to achieve for the state.
Your Excellency, while still basking in the euphoria of your Supreme Court victory, I want to let you know about the unfortunate, sad and injustice currently going on in the sports sector of the state which needs your urgent attention.
Sir, I see this as the best time to inform you about the discriminatory and uncivilized injustice that the Kano State Sports Commission is committing in the sector.
The commission is permeating a gross injustice to the majority of the contingents of Kano Team that represented the state in Abuja for 2023 Para Games recently.
Sir, they took a team of players, coaches, organizing secretaries, doctors, press, drivers, security etc to Abuja, the venue of the National Para Games empty handed without their DTA but with the promise of getting their pay on arrival.
But sadly, the commission did not redeem its promise of paying the entire team and that was how they played their matches up to the mid of the event empty handed with empty stomachs.
That action put the entire Kano team into an untold hardship as some of them especially those that do not or have anybody in Abuja, had to beg to eat and find where to sleep.
Sir, instead of the commission to source for funds and do the needful to reduce the suffering of those people, they only told them that they were expecting funds from the government.
Your Excellency, that was how our contingents kept waiting, suffering with nothing coming from Kano as they were told until they changed style and voiced out their feelings.
Sir, it was when the players and the accompanied press crew made their condition known by expressing their displeasure on the sad situation the failure to get their pay has put them, the acting chairman of the sports commission spoke.
It was then via an interview with the press revealed the receipt of N9million from the government before their departure to Abuja which he held to himself alone before.
It was in the interview that the acting chairman disclosed that he used the N9million to pay for players’ registration and settled part of some players’ DTA.
It was also then that the acting chairman unfolded the total amount of money he requested which was 30 Million and the amount released.
Sir, prior to that time, nobody among the team was aware of the N9million released from the government, an action which put doubt on the sincerity of the commission.
Most of us see these as some degree of negligence on the part of the commission which led to the unfortunate scenario the team found itself in Abuja.
We thought the commission ought to have looked for funds or sourced it elsewhere before the departure of the team to do the needful and pay back anytime the government release the money.
Sir, the common practice in this case was for the entire team members to have received their DTA before departure and that was if the commission acted as expected.
And that was why the commission’s failure to do the right thing made the Abuja trip a worst and terrible experience because it landed all the members of the team in some inexpressible hardships.
Sir, those of them especially those that know or have nobody in Abuja suffered because they lacked money to buy food, pay transportation and even pay for their lodges.
Even my brethren in the pen profession that accompanied the team to Abuja experienced indescribable difficulties transporting themselves to various venues, buying airtime and data to file in their reports or news items.
Sir, that was how they ended the Abuja trip in disarray and distress up to the time they returned back to Kano which seriously affected their output.
Even the 9 Gold, 5 Silver and 6 Bronze totaling 17 medals the commission is celebrating cannot be compared with that of the last year (2022) because Kano occupied the same position but hauled 21 Gold, 13 Silver and 8 Bronze totaling 42 medals in the same Abuja.
When the team returned back, we expected the commission act and did all it could to source for funds and settle the entire members of the team.
Sir, it failed again as the commission did not make any perceptible efforts to douse the fire that was burning which the failure to pay the returnee their DTA has resulted. Same members of the trip returned to the press.
It was then the commission woke up from their slumber and sourced for funds but instead of paying all the members of the team, they made another blunder by doing selective payment which did not go down well to those that were not paid.
Sir, we see these selective payments as a bribe and a deliberate act to instantly stop the airing of the news of the failure of the payment and the embarrassment it brought to all the members of the team.
The commission’s selective payment shamelessly saw them paying only players and the press crew DTA only, leaving the rest empty handed which many put doubt on the seriousness and fairness of the commission.
Sir, the other members of the team that were exempted from the payment includes organizing secretaries, coaches, doctors, drivers etc.
From what transpired, the commission only recognized the athletes and the press crew as the most important part of the trip, forgetting that other members that made the trip too are of utmost importance.
Sir, we see every member of the team as important because his or her presence contributed in one way or the other to the success of the trip.
To start with the drivers, the commission needs to know or be educated that if not for their presence and contributions, the journey to Abuja would not be possible. So they are equally important to the trip.
As I state in my previous write ups, it was the organizing secretary which the commission saw as not worthy to get their pay that discovered the coaches.
And it was the coaches that discovered or recruited the players or the athletes the commission is pampering and prioritizing over every other member. So if they didn’t do their work, the commission will not get the athletes to be prioritized.
And the doctors that were part of the team have their usefulness too, which the commission did not see or recognized. We know how important the medical team is to any society or environment.
Because they provide medical assistance to the entire team day and night. But the commission did not recognize that.
Sir, beside these, there are security in the team who gave them adequate protection right from Kano up to Abuja until their return but the commission did not see them worthy of getting their pay.
All the commission wants is to stop the noises that the press crew is continuously making after their return which surprisingly paid up as the press have perfectly shut their mouths.
And I am surprised with the action of the press too, because as the mirror of the society, they ought to continue pressing until every other member that they suffered together in the Abuja trip got his or her DTA.
Honestly, we see the act of closing the mouths of the athletes and the press leaving many others unpaid as a bad leadership style and a bribe which must be investigated.
Sir, I see this as a ploy to cheat people who sacrifice and do well for the state which I know your administration will not condone.
I suggest for a committee be put in place to investigate the commission and unearth the fact of the matter so that those yet to get their DTA should get theirs and the culprits brought to book.
Allah yasa a gama lafiya.
