Kalu ready to revolutionise sports, says Inyama

Re-elected President of the Nigeria Judo Federation, NJF, Orji Uzor Kalu has promised to take the sport to an enviable height during his second term in office. Kalu who is the governor of Abia State staged a return to the helm of the NJF after a keenly fought election in Abuja on Tuesday overcoming the challenge posed by Rev. John Ekwonike.

In a post victory chat with nigeriasports.com, the special assistant to the governor Chief Emeka Inyama said it was the governor's dream to put turn the country into a major power in the oriental sport."The governor has a blueprint to lift judo and in the next four years, Nigeria would be in the forefront of continental judo.

Nigerian judo suffered total neglect during the first tenure of the governor prompting dissent from members of the judo community and consequent opposition of the governor at the pools.
Inyama who played a pivotal role in the governor's re-election squarely placed the blame of the events of the last four years at the doorstep of the secretariat.

"It was not the governor that did not live up to his responsibility, it was the secretariat that failed.If the secretariat and other key members of the last executive played their roles properly, judo would have benefitted more from the governor's large heart".

Inyama stressed that it was to demonstrate his love for the sport that the governor released his funds to bankroll the Nigerian contingent to the African Judo Championships billed for South Africa next month. "And he offered this support even before the elections.

He was not bothered whether he could lose the election, all he was interesated in was to ensure that Nigeria did not miss out of the African tourney"Inyama said. Describing Kalu as a first class patriot, Inyama said the NJF president was determined to bring into judo that midas touch "with which he tranformed Enyimba FC from a team on the verge of extinction to Africa's very best clubside".

Report: Ikpo Igbinoba