Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The Abia State Football Association, Thursday, impeached its Chairman, Dr Obioma Onyeaghala, over alleged misconduct, financial misappropriation, abuse of office and maladministration.
He was impeached at the extraordinary congress of the association held at its secretariat in Umuahia although he was absent at the congress.
After some of his alleged misconducts were reeled out by the Vice Chairman of the FA, Mr Okechi Ubani, Chairman of Abia Angels Football Club, Mr Johnson Nwosu, moved the motion for his impeachment, while the Secretary of Enyimba FC, Onyukwu Onyeke, seconded the motion.
Earlier in his address at the congress, the Vice Chairman of the association, Mr Ubani, expressed dissatisfaction over the attitude of Onyeaghala which, according to him, was frustrating football development in the state.
Mr Ubani said that Onyeaghala also ignored invitations by the association to respond to the allegations against him.
He, therefore, sought the opinions of participants at the congress on how to handle the Chairman and move the association forward.
Reacting to the development, former Commissioner for Sports and a one time FA Chairman in the state, Dr Patrick Chimezie Mba, expressed disappointment at the attitude of Onyeaghala.
Mba who was also a former FA Chairman in the state, said Onyeaghala was a clog on the wheel of progress and football development in Abia.
He suggested immediate suspension of Onyeaghala and the setting up of a committee to investigate the various allegations levelled against him.
Similarly, former Director of Sports, Mr Ejikeme Ikwunze, popularly known as Mr Football, also expressed shock over the allegations against the embattled Chairman, saying he is disappointed in him.
Ikwunze particularly noted with shock, a comment by Onyeaghala during a live radio programme where he allegedly said he would never honour any invitation by the Sports Commissioner.
“He cannot come to destroy what others built years before him,” Ikwunze lamented, insisting that he be handled according to “the rules.”
In a remark, the Commissioner for Sports, Nwobilor Ananaba, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Mr Cyril Nwigwe, said Government was willing to collaborate with Football Association to move football forward in the state.
Director of Sports, Comrade Obioma George, in a remark, noted with displeasure, the docility of Abia FA, describing the situation as worrisome for a state that has four football clubs.
He further described the Abia FA as the worst he had seen, and called for sanity in the interest of football in the state.
Other speakers including the Secretary Coaches Association, Igwe Madubuike; the Chairman Players Union, and former Supper Eagles’ star, Bethel Orji; Chairman of Referees Association, Elder Maltador Obinta; and the first female FIFA Match Commissioner from Nigeria, Mrs Edith Nwakire, all voiced their dissatisfaction with Onyeaghala’s attitude and said he should be sanctioned.
But in a swift reaction, Onyeaghala who was elected in May 2023, dismissed his impeachment as a ruse, insisting that he remains the Chairman until 2027 when his tenure would expire.
In a phone interview, Onyeaghala denied all the allegations against him, and dismissed participants at the congress as imposters.
He said: “It’s laughable. Who are the members of the congress? There was no single member of the FA at the congress. The people there were from Sports Council and Ministry of Sports and a few people who don’t like my face.
“The Nigeria Football Federation has written a letter telling them to discontinue with what they were doing. NFF and FIFA frown at government’s interference in FA. What happened there was not a congress of Abia FA. I’m still the Chairman till May 2027.
“Those people you saw there were all impersonators. They were all suspended before now. They cannot remove me. Congress brought me and congress will remove me. That some people don’t like me won’t change anything. My tenure ends May 5, 2027; and I will stand for a re-election.”
