Coach Bola Mogaji, Executive Chairman, Kwara State Sports Commission, KSC, has asked critics alleging sundry malfeasances against him to get acquainted with the rule book on stadium facility management.
According to him, sports administration is not done by sentiments.
He also insisted that his commission’s door are open for any clarifications.
Coach Mogaji, Nigeria’s legend and seasoned instructor, made this clarifications in chat with Daily Independent on Tuesday, after a blog alleged that money for the use of the main bowl by teams and football clubs where either misappropriated or/and embezzled, outright.
“I believe that authors of that report are myopic and lack the basic knowledge stadium facility management. I could have sued them for attacking my person and integrity but I willing to choose the path of peace and enlighten and educate them,” he said.
According to the post, there was ‘mismanagement and embezzlement of funds’ generated from stadium usage at the KSC.
The report noted that Coach Magaji, had been collecting money from football teams and organizations for the use of the football pitch through his private account, bypassing the official government channel, Kwara State Internal Revenue Service, KWIRS.
Though largely unsubstantiated, the claims had it that monies from the stadium usage by Osun United FC, Ekiti United, both NNL clubs, with each paying N150,000 per match for five different matches and another N1 million from ten NLO teams for stadium use during the 2023/2024 season were paid into Mogaji’s private account.
The post claimed that rather than use the money to maintain the stadium, the KSC left it to the management of the state FA under Thuraya and that of Kwara United, the state owned darling team, led by Kumbi Titiloye, its chairman.
‘It is a case of monkey dey work, baboon dey chop’, the post summarized in pidgin, asking the state government to probe Coach Mogaji.
But making clarifications to show how wrong the report is, Coach Mogaji said that the reporters in the said story got their facts mixed up.
“N3 million was paid to the Football Association’s account. Out of it, N1 million was made to the account of Kwara State Sports Commission, KSC, which is the statutory body charged with managing and overseeing the stadium.
“Before we got this money, it took us two weeks, pursuing their officers to make the necessary remittance to the commission.
“It took another One week to verify that the money was actually paid into the account. Even a lay man knows that one it comes to statutory matters especially in the area of revenue remittances, it is not about Bola Mogaji.
” It is about obeying the lay down procedure or have the state government review the process.
“Even if we have to review the process especially in the areas collecting money, it still has to follow statutory process.
“This is how things are done,” the sports administrator said.
