By Frank Ulom
The position of Dr Esther Oluwatoyin Aluko, Secretary-General of the Nigeria Netball Federation (NNF) is being threatened after Cornelius Ehimiaghe, a Trustee of CSED Initiative and members of the Naija Netball Stakeholders petitioned her over suspected illegal activities.
Aluko, THE PARADISE gathered was petitioned alongside Dr Henry Nzekwu, who is also the President of the Nigeria Netball Federation.
In one of the petitions directed towards the president of Netball Africa, Cecilia Molokwane in 2021, the petitioners stated that the illegality and anti-netball activities started with Helen Manufor who did not follow due process, yet self-imposed herself as the Secretary-General which Aluko is following today. The petition can be found HERE.
The petitioners also petitioned the duo to the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare in a letter dated January 25, 2023, which stated that Aluko and Nzekwu are using NNF to deceive Nigerians, thereby extorting both the local and international communities. You can find the petition HERE.
One of the petitioners, Cornelius Ehimiaghe, a trustee of CSED Initiative and sports for change activist said the Naija Netball Stakeholders view the action of the so-called President and General Secretary of NNF as an illegal action that violates the principle of justice and Fairplay.
Ehimiaghe claimed that Aluko and Nzekwu have been imposed on the netball stakeholders by the top hierarchy of the Youth Sports Ministry, who failed Nigerians in conducting their developmental and supervisory role in respect of netball, in the past decade.
“Now that they have seen the gradual progress of ‘PROJECT 2027’ (CSED Initiative programme of making one million Nigerian school girls to be aware of netball), they are now trying to be a clog in the wheel of progress”, Ehimiaghe said.
He said the Naija Netball Stakeholders see the recent move by Aluko and her backers as a desperate attempt to further their personal interest of being relevant in the sports sector in Nigeria.
“We the stakeholders sent a petition letter to the Honourable Minister of Youths and Sport on January 26, 2023, complaining about the illegality that has been perpetuated in Nigeria’s netball in the past decade. Instead of investigating our allegation, the next thing we know is that Dr Henry Nzekwu who is a bosom friend of Mr Sunday Dare (the current Minister of Youth and Sports), is now the President of the Nigeria Netball Federation.
“More worrying is the fact that Dr Aluko who since October 2021 fooled Nigerians to believe that she is the General Secretary of an unregistered NNF, is now calling the shot at the NNF (Nigeria Netball Federation). This is the same Dr Esther Oluwatoyin Aluko who contested for the post of General Secretary of the NOC in December 2022, as a representative of the Handball Federation of Nigeria (HNF)”, Ehimiaghe stated.
He added that “This is the same Dr Esther Aluko who lied to Nigerians that basketball stunted the growth and development of netball in Nigeria. But in December 2022, she used mercenaries from other sports to demonstrate netball at the NSF in Asaba. This is the same Dr Aluko who lied during a television interview on 2 April 2022, by misleading sports journalists to believe that AFFAN built the first netball court in Nigeria. This woman is so desperate to be relevant in Nigerian sports that she would not mind selling her country (Nigeria) for a bowl of porridge.”
Ehimiaghe noted further that Aluko keeps flaunting the fact that she played netball in the 1960 and 70s before she converted to handball. “If netball was that important to Dr Esther Aluko, what did she do to develop netball as a civil servant; where she spent more than 30 years and rose to the position of Director before she retired from service a few years ago?
“Funny enough, I was the person who brought the problem in netball to Dr Esther Aluko, as the president of AFFAN. I did so in 2019. If I am lying, you can ask her to confirm or deny this”, aggrieved Ehimiaghe said.
He said the current Sports Minister has given Nzekwu roles to play in the past in football and basketball. “Though we do not know if the current Minister is behind Dr Nzekwu’s current elevation to the position of President of NNF, we the Naija Netball Stakeholders are not going to accept this. Na only Dr Nzekwu be the competent sports administrator wey dey Nigeria?” Ehimiaghe stated.
“The one-million-dollar question that Naija Netball Stakeholders want to ask the principalities and powers of Nigerian sport is: is the role of sports developers at the national level only reserved for former Sports Ministry/NOC staff? If not, can any other citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, aspire to play a role in developing grassroots sports in Nigeria without being the bosom friend, girlfriend, and boot lickers of the principal staff of the Sports Ministry and NOC?”
Recall that CSED Initiative has been at the forefront of trying to revive netball in Nigeria. As stated earlier, in 2019, the Initiative challenged the authority of the former General-Secretary of the then-unregistered NNF, Hellen Manufor, who dribbled the NOC and Sports Ministry staff to believe that the NNF was a registered Federation.
While the principal officers of the Sports Ministry and NOC were asleep, Ehimiaghe brought Manufor’s activities to the attention of the former Nigeria Sports Minister, Barr. Solomon Dalung.
It was reported that Dalung ordered the NOC to investigate the grievances of the CSED Initiative in respect of how netball was being run in Nigeria. Instead of doing so, the then General Secretary of NOC only wrote an email to CSED Initiative. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, two members of the staff of the Youth and Sports Ministry and NOC were rewarded with a place in the illegal NNF Board that was handpicked by Manufor in May 2019.
“It is only in Nigeria that people are appointed into the Board of a Sports Federation that is not even registered with the regulatory corporate affairs regulator”, Ehimiaghe said.
Ehimiaghe, however, stated that since nobody seem to care about the development of netball in Nigeria, CSED Initiative took the bull by the horn and in February 2020 – they built the first netball court in Nigeria this millennium at the IDP Camp in Uhoghua, Edo State.
“In March 2020, CSED Initiative went further by training 24 Nigerians to be certified as Netball Africa Coaches. The first time this has happened in the history of Nigeria. To date, CSED Initiative has trained an additional 216 Nigerian P.E. Teachers/Youths to become Netball Coaches. These trainings were conducted in Utoka (Edo State), Mosogar (Delta State), Uyo (Akwa Ibom State), Enugu (Enugu State), Yenogoa (Bayelsa State) and Jalingo (Taraba State)”, he disclosed.
Ehimiaghe further disclosed that CSED Initiative does not only train teachers in netball but also embeds safeguarding in its training of these coaches. He lamented that the NOC/Sports Ministry in Nigeria do not even have a safeguarding protocol, not to talk of implementing one for Nigerian athletes.
“At the end of our two days of basic netball training, CSED Initiative usually provide free netball starter packs (netball balls, finger-held whistles, two sets of netball training bibs and two netball rims/nets) to participants of their training events. The attendees of these free training are also provided with a decent lunch”, he said.
One of the Naija Netball Stakeholders, Edward Edema said that: “I am aware that CSED Initiative delivered equipment for the training of 30 P.E. Teachers in FCT (Abuja) to Dr Esther Aluko. But Dr Esther Aluko diverted it to pursue her own personal/AFFAN interest, with a view of curry favouring her principal in NOC, Engineer Habib Gumel. This is a typical example of how the personal interest of an individual is greater than that of an entire community.
“It is an open secret that even with their access to public funds, the Ministry of Sports and the NOC have not trained one Netball Africa certified Coach. More laughable is Dr Esther Aluko’s recent claim that the target of the NNF is to participate in the 2024 All Africa Games in Accra”.
Concluding, Ehimiaghe advised Dr Esther Aluko and the NNF that they should learn how to crawl before they think of walking or even taking part in a race. “Dr Esther Aluko is supposed to be a PhD holder but some of the views she has expressed in respect of netball in the past year raise concerns about how she obtained her doctorate degree. Do she and her illegal president of the NNF think that other countries who have been playing netball regularly in the past few decades are just going to go into hiding because they are going to play Nigeria in future?
“Even with Dr Esther Aluko and Dr Henry Nzekwu being highly connected to the authorities in the Sports Ministry/NOC because of them being former staff, there is no guarantee that they are going to remain in their current position. This is because CSED Initiative and Naija Netball Stakeholders are currently in the process of consulting with their members and solicitors with a view to taking this matter to Court. You cannot build something on nothing”, Ehimiaghe maintained.
When contacted on the phone on Wednesday evening (April 5, 2023), Aluko told THE PARADISE NEWS that: “I represented Nigeria as an athlete and a coach and I served this nation and I was the Secretary-General of the 8th National Sports Federation before I retired from the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, so, I’ve paid my dues.
“Somebody cannot come from anywhere…have you heard of netball, was anything happening in netball in Nigeria? I am over 60 and I’ve paid my dues for my nation – nobody from nowhere can come and mess up…they didn’t pay anything…we are serving and giving back to society doesn’t mean someone with an ulterior motive will come and mess things up”.
She said, “The Federation has a president, I am not supposed to talk to anybody because I’ve been told not to respond to anybody, so, the president is in the position to speak”.
Aluko further disclosed that the Federation will be unveiling a logo and a 5-year development plan which will be made available to the press soonest.
Giving a further explanation about netball and her experience in Nigeria, Aluko said: “I played netball in the 60s and 70s, so, I’m not a baby when you’re talking about sport. I am the President, Association of Former Female Athletes of Nigeria (AFFAN). Go and see our antecedents, we have joined with former athletes by bringing them out of retirement, to remain relevant in their various sports.
She disclosed further that: “Netball will be participating in the All African Games next year. The people writing all sorts of things [petitions], what have they done for netball in Nigeria? We took netball to the National Sports Festival, we gave netball prominence – we demonstrated netball at the National Sports Festival for the first time, where were they?
“God has done so much for me, so, I’m grateful to Him every day. What we are doing now is to give back to society, and serve as role models and that is why what Former Female Athletes are doing…we have them in all the chapters of the Federation…that we are in netball now to help netball develop…does netball have money? Is there anything for netball? Nothing! Just the passion. You can’t see anybody that has done sports in Nigeria that doesn’t have passion for sports to develop. What is netball? Even the current sports that are on, do they have funding? Not to talk of a sport that some people are coming to develop to ensure that it grows – we are trying to see that what happened in the 60s/70s when netball died will not happen again.
“We are building a proper structure, a federation has been recommended and registered by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development. When a Federation is registered under the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)…who are the stakeholders? Netball was nowhere. They are supposed to develop all sports in their communities, why are they so interested in destroying the structure that the Government is trying to put in place?”