Trouble brews in judo federation

Barely a week after the inauguration of sports associations' boards, clouds of trouble are already gathering in the Nigeria Judo Federation, NJF. The first step towards crisis was taken on Monday when former federation president Adolphus Okafor was drafted in by the incumbent President Orji Uzor Kalu to lead the country's delegation to the African Judo Championships in South Africa.

Okafor, interestingly is not a member of the NJF. He was rejected even at the zonal level because of his failure to answer questions bothering on Athens 2004 Olympic $5,000 grant for the Judo Federation.

The eleven man team of six judokas and five officials left on Monday night for Johannesburg enroute Port Elizabeth for the one week tournament. The trip is sponsored by the federation president.

Judo watchers insist that it is a breach of protocol for Okafor to lead a delegation which has the 1st Vice President Alhaji Musa Matori on the list.

A member of the judo federation told nigeriasports.com that the development was dangerous for the sport which has suffered total neglect in the last four years under the same Kalu's leadership.

"Kalu wants to destroy this sport. Why should he bring in a complete stranger to lead a delegation which has a duly elected 1st Vice President on board".

The association member wondered what role Okafor was going to play in South Africa. "Okafor was never a judoka, he doesn't hold any international position, he is not a technical man and above he is not a board member".

The member expressed the fear that Kalu was going to run judo through Okafor predicting that such a development would destroy the sport.

He alleged "Okafor has lost face in the judo community and the man doesn't have the wherewithals to move the sport forward".

Judo has been a hostage in the hands of Orji Kalu in the last four years.

Kalu who is a governor of Abia State, a state which has no judo mat or hall was drafted to take charge of the sport four years ago by the Ministry of Sports and Social Development when he was picked as government nominee for the election.

He was returned unopposed with other board members hoping that his tenure would improve the lot of the sport.
Unfortunately, Kalu who was consumed by the Enyimba International project abandoned the sport for four years and when it was time to reconstitute the board, government rejected his moves to get nomination.

But determined to hold on to the association, he contested elections through the zones and in Abuja was able to overcome the opposition posed by the government nominee Rev. John Ekwonike.

The association member appealed to the Ministry to monitor how chairmen like Kalu ran their associations. "It will not be nice to allow Kalu and those like him to destroy Nigerian sports. Four years in the life of a sports is like a thousand years.The ministry must put a mechanism in place to check these chairmen".

by IKPO IGBINOBA, NEWS EDITOR