Group decries Ondo govt’s plan to sell state-owned football clubs

A group, Ondo State Football Stakeholders Forum, has decried plans by the Ondo State Government to sell state-sponsored football clubs—the Sunshine Stars and the Sunshine Queens, both of Akure.

The reports that the state Commissioner for Youths and Sports Development, Mr. Bamidele Ologunloluwa, had disclosed that the Sunshine Stars and the Sunshine Queens FC were opened for sale or privatisation to the right investors by the end of the ongoing 2022/2023 football league season.

The convener of the group, Otunba Dele Ologbese, in a statement, on Friday, said it was wrong for the government to take such a decision without carrying stakeholders along.

He said, “It would be most appropriate to ask Governor Rotimi Akeredolu to tell the whole world why he singlehandedly took such sensitive decision without input of stakeholders and for him to point out any of his remarkable achievements in the sector since he assumed office six years ago.

“This objective assessment is hinged on the fact that he did little in developing sports infrastructures and most importantly his inability in building an Olympic size stadium in the state like what immediate past Akwa Ibom State’s governor, Goodwill Akpabio, did by constructing an international Stadium in Uyo.”

It described the proposed plan as a high-level insensitivity and breaching of social contract, adding that stakeholders had several times engaged the Ondo State Government on how Sunshine Stars can be properly repositioned to become self-financing without necessarily relying on the government’s funding.