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Osun Babes Fc

Osun To Receive FIFA Grants For Osun United, Babes

by Bioreports August 14, 2020

written by Bioreports

By Solomon Odeniyi & Sodiq Yusuf

The State Government of Osun will receive the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) COVID-19 relief funds due to her football teams, Osun United and Osun Babes.

Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Hon Yemi Lawal disclosed this in an interview with journalists on Wednesday.

Lawal stated that the government was yet to receive an official communication from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on the actual amount of the relief funds allotted to the two teams.

He said since the state government is taking over Osun United and Osun Babes, it will be the receiver of the funds.

The commissioner said: “Before now, no revenue was coming to the pocket of the state government while it had been funding the teams.”

“We have taken ownership of the two clubs and we are going to ensure that all the paper-works are properly done to ensure that the revenue that is due to the state be remitted at the appropriate places.

“They are saying that certain amount will be given to Osun Babes and Osun United, I am hearing it from you for the first time, I do not have any official document to show that. But I’m sure that anything that will come to the state teams will be remitted to the coffers of the government.

“The question is not about where the money will come to. If it comes to the government purse, good, if it is paid directly into the purse of the club, there is no problem. It is all within the purview of the government. What matters most is the judicious utilisation of the resources whenever they come.”

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Youths and Sports, Aremo Adegboyega Adelabu said the government was working assiduously to complete the renovation of the Osogbo Township Stadium.

Adelabu said: “As we speak, the contractor has been mobilised back to site. They have started doing the fencing. The contractor has completed the borehole. The generator has been put in the stadium. We have started the restructuring of the sports sector, in the next two to three weeks; you will begin to see the result.”

August 14, 2020 0 comment

Featured Osun Babes Fc Osun United FC POLITICS SPORTS State Government of Osun Uncategorized

Finally, Govt Stops Osun United, Osun Babes Players’, Staff Salaries

by Bioreports July 17, 2020

written by Bioreports

By Solomon Odeniyi

The State Government of Osun has carried out

its plans to disband Osun United and Osun

Babes, by suspending the salaries of players and officials of the football clubs.

OSUN DEFENDER had last week reported that the state government was planning to disband the teams as part of its restructuring efforts, as explained by the Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Mr. Yemi Lawal.

The plan, which has been generating outrage from sports lovers within and outside the state, came to the fore on Tuesday when the government, through a letter signed by the Acting General Manager, Osun State Sports Council, Mr. Rotimi Dunmoye, said it had stopped the salaries of players of the two teams and their staff members.

Addressed to the Secretary, Osun United FC, the letter, which was sighted by OSUN DEFENDER, directed that payments of salaries should be suspended forthwith as approved by the governor, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola.

Mr. Tajudeen Amodu, the Media officer of the team, confirmed the letter, saying that it was from the Ministry of Youths and Sports, through Osun State Sports Council, which confirmed the suspension of other salaries from where the state football clubs and athletes are being paid.

Amodu said the President of Osun United, Chief Ademola Adesina has urged Governor Oyetola to consider global best practice, which forbids abrupt stoppage of salaries of footballers who are under contractual agreements with a club.

Adesina was also said to have enjoined the Governor to emulate other states in Nigeria which continue to promptly pay salaries of the state-owned teams since the suspension of sporting activities due to the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic.

The former Super Eagles player, who lauded the relentless efforts of the state government on the regular payment of workers’ salaries, appealed to Oyetola to consider the multiplier effects the salary stoppage will have at the period when citizens are finding it difficult to provide means of livelihood due to the challenges of COVID-19.

“Apart from the fact that contracts of our players have not been officially terminated, if salaries are stopped during this period, the living standard of beneficiaries from this medium will nosedive because of the current situation of the country which has been badly affected by COVID-19.

“We therefore appeal to the State Government to look into the matter and lift the suspension on the salaries of Osun United, Osun Babes, their boards as well as contract coaches and athletes in the state”, concluded Chief Adesina.

Speaking with the medium, Osun United Captain, Akeem Olalere appealed to the state government to reconsider its decision, saying that it would have devastating effect on the players.

Olalere said: “The players are unhappy with the decision. It is not what we all were expecting. Our contracts will expire in December, but we can’t go into war with the government.

“We can only appeal to the state government to consider the players. The hardship occasioned by the Coronavirus is already telling on us. We have dependants and if our salaries are not paid, it will worsen issues. Our only source of livelihood is football and now that activities have been banned nation-wide, the development makes it difficult for us to eke out a living for ourselves.

July 17, 2020 0 comment

Featured Osun Babes Fc Osun United FC POLITICS SPORTS Uncategorized Yemi Lawal

Outrage Over Govt’s Plan To Disband Osun United, Osun Babes

by Bioreports July 10, 2020

written by Bioreports

By Solomon Odeniyi

The proposed plan by the State Government of Osun to disband its football teams, Osun United and Osun Babes has been generating controversies among sport lovers and associations within and outside the state.

Osun Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Mr. Yemi Lawal had on Tuesday disclosed that the state government would disband Osun United and Osun Babes as part of the ongoing restructuring programmes in the Sport Council.

According to Lawal, who spoke with Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, Osun chapter, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola had approved the disbandment of the teams and re-registering of the clubs with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

Lawal was reacting to a petition written against him and the Acting General Manager of Osun Sports Council, Rotimi Dumoye by some sport lovers over the appointment of Sport Coordinators in all the 31 Local Governments and Area Council in the state.

He said: “As a result of the petition, the governor has graciously approved that we should disband anything called contract staffs and athletes and we should stop payments to anything called board as well as players of Osun United and Osun Babes.

“There is need for serious restructuring. We are also going as far as re-registering the clubs with the Cooperate Affairs Commission. It will not be business as usual.”

But the National Association of Nigeria Professional Footballers has kicked against the plan, demanding for clarification for the sack of Osun United and Osun Babes Teams from the state government.

NANPF, in a letter directed to the state’s Director of Sports, said it was not a good idea to take unilateral decision to sack the players without following due process, describing it as unacceptable.

Dated July 8, 2020 and signed by General Secretary of the association, Austin Popo on behalf of the National President, Tijani Babangida, the letter reads: “Information available to our union suggest that the management of your football clubs, Osun United and Osun Babes have sacked the entire players and officials of both clubs without following due process as contained in the relevant provision of the rule of the Nigeria National League and the Women Professional Football League.

“Taking unilateral decision to sack players without following due process is not a good idea, and totally unacceptable by the players union.

“Our further investigation suggests that there was no pre-notification meeting between club’s management and players and coaches to discuss your actions, contrary to the basic principle of guiding the protection of workers’ rights.

“It is equally important to draw your attention to the fact that every professional player either in the NNL or in the Women Professional League is under a contract of minimum one year in accordance with the leagues regulations. We are just in the seventh month of the year. In other words, our understanding is that players still have a subsisting contract with your club.

“We therefore, for the sake of industrial peace and harmony, call for a meeting of all relevant stakeholders to resolve the issue amicably without compromising the right of players and officials of the clubs.”

Besides, the appointment of Sport Coordinators, which is said to have replaced Contract Coaching and Athlete Department of the Sports Council, has been generating controversies as sport lovers have described as political and alien to the structures of sports in the state.

Some sport lovers who spoke under the aegis of Concerned Citizens of the state, said the Sport Coordinators appointment was to service some members of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), adding that some of the appointed people are not from Osun.

The group, in a petition against the appointment alleged: “The list shows the desperation of Yemi Lawal and Rotimi Dunmoye, Acting General Manager, Osun State Sports Council to install the structure of SDP in the Governor Adegboyega Oyetola’s administration whether by truth or by crook.

“He has also succeeded in recruiting his SDP and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) youths across the state under the pretence of Sports Coordinators and sends away youths of All Progressives Congress (APC) extraction that have been working for the Sports Council for several years.

“It will amaze you that there is nothing like Sports Coordinators in the organogram of the Osun State Sports Council. This implies that what they did is illegal, but was hiding on the instruction that Mr. Governor has given him go ahead.

“Some of the appointed Sports Coordinators are working with other organizations and even living in Ibadan, yet Yemi Lawal recruited them because they are the ones they are recruiting for the next election in 2022 against our great party, APC especially the Local Government Election coming up soon.”

Reacting, the Commissioner for Sports described the people condemning the appointment as disgruntled elements, who are not happy with the restructuring exercise being carried out in the Sports Council.

According to him, the appointees were not selected based on political reasons, saying that the selected persons were those who had high scores in the selection test conducted for them by members of the committee instituted for that purpose.

He stated that the petitions had yielded fruits, as it had afforded the ministry the opportunity to rebuild sports in the state.

Lawal said: “While trying to restructure things, there were outcries from some disgruntled elements and believe that what they perceived as their birthright had been taken away from them.

“The petition had given birth to a new era. I am happy such a petition went out. It has given us the room to start from the scratch. It is like a situation of demolishing a house that had been defected. All along we had been trying to patch and as we did, it kept giving new defects.”

July 10, 2020 0 comment