The Minister of Youth and Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung and World Boxing Federation (WBF), Cruiserweight boxing champion, Bash Ali (OON), are at war over a report by a civil right organization, Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice (CHRSJ), that claimed that the sum of N7.5 billion has been ‘criminally diverted’ by the Ministry of Youth and Sports meant for staging the Guinness Book of World Records (GWR) fight.
Reacting swiftly over the claim, Dalung described the allegation as a cheap attempt to hug the headline in a quest for relevance as he said no money was ever approved from the Ministry or Presidency for such bogus venture!
The Point gathered that Dalung was terribly angry as he wondered why the Civil Rights Organization whose watchword should be civility, truthfulness and fairness could claim such amount was approved by the Presidency for a world title fight by Bash Ali.
“This so called Civil Rights Organization abused every standard ethics that any Civil Rights Organization should hold dear. It is another attempt to confuse unsuspecting members of the public,” Dalung began.
He wondered why Bash Ali who is a senior citizen could descend to such an all time low at the expense of other people’s integrity.
“Before I assumed office as Minister of Sports, Bash Ali fought my predecessors just under the guise of hosting a world championship bout. He has also employed same violent antics against the MD of Nexim Bank which landed him behind the counter.”
He charged Bash and his cohorts to channel their marketing drive towards the private sector who will be more than interested in bankrolling the fight if he is truly what he claims he is.
Dalung revealed that a legal redress will be sought against harbingers and publishers of the malicious stories.
“This is so sad that anybody who lays an allegation against Dalung will be given an express permission in Vanguard without being asked for concrete and defensible facts.
“As a Nigerian with an inalienable right to seek redress, my lawyers are in the process of approaching a competent court of law. Enough is enough,” Dalung stated with a tinge of regret.
It could be recalled efforts made in the past by one of the key promoters of the Bash Ali’s Guinness Book of World Records (GWR) fight Otunba Bamidele Benson Akingboye met a brick wall thereby leaving the ageless boxer to fall back on government for sponsorship.
In 2014, Akingboye in a world press conference revealed his readiness to bankroll the fight.
“As you can see, this is a fight most Nigerians believe in and arrangements for it started when President Olusegun Obasanjo was in power before he handed over to President Umaru Yar ‘Adua and now we have President Goodluck Jonathan in the saddle.
“Since 2006 till date, efforts have been made by the various governments to make this fight come to fruition and we are glad to announce to the boxing world that come 2014 the fight will hold in Africa’s most populous black nation, Nigeria.
“Therefore, every Nigerian should pray so that we can achieve success at the end of the day with the project at hand. I feel that this is a project that Nigerians should believe in and come together to work with us to achieve success.
“As I mentioned earlier on the LOC of this great fight was set up in 2006 by President Obasanjo and we have met with members of the LOC. We have discussed with them and they are all ready to kickoff with us. So, for us to sit down here at home thinking that this is an African fight we have to move out to the world to sensitive them because the fight involves the whole world. The IBU are all involved in this and so we have to go down to Canada to meet them and discuss with them with regards to the fight.
“We have to discuss with IBU on how we are going to make the payment to them, especially for the boxers that are coming to Nigeria for the fight and the initial deposit to them regarding the fight. We also needed to interact with other great boxers like Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson who are expected to grace the occasion. All these are the main reasons why we had to travel to Canada to start preparations,” Akingboye stated.
From 2014 till date the GWR fight is yet to hold as things have fallen apart!
Speaking to The Point over why he wants the GWR fight to hold in Nigeria despite the failure of government to bankroll it, Bash Ali said the gains of seeing the fight happen at home outweighs the loss.
“The industry in Nigeria stands to gain a lot from Bash Ali’s Guinness Book of World Records fight. After this fight it is going to bring about a positive revolution in our sports industry because we are going to see the history of Nigerian sport being re-written. It will actually turn our sports development around for good as we witnessed in the past but it is clear some people have vowed that this fight will not
happen.
“We are going to invest most of the proceeds that will come from hosting this boxing event in Nigeria back into our sports industry.
“More sporting facilities would be built for our athletes to train in and we shall have events being staged there on daily bases.
“The history of sports in Nigeria will come back to normal and we will witness a boom once more in our sports industry because our future stars will now have facilities to train. Even our Sports Councils and their administrators will not be left out because efforts will be made to help them upgrade and
retrain them.
“The fight will put Nigeria’s image on the world’s map as a top boxing nation in the past following the exploits of Dick Tiger, Hogan Kid Bassey, Obisia Nwankpa, Samuel Peter and myself Bash Ali. The inspiration our youths will derive from the fight is going to be enormous because every Nigerian boxer will like to be a champion. And by being a champion, our future stars in boxing will be eager to go back to the rings to start learning the rudiments of the sport. From there, they will be encouraged to win laurels for the country through boxing.
“I believe that a lot of good things in the sporting industry are going to come to Nigeria through this GWR fight.
“However, I wish to state that I have suffered a lot in terms of seeing this fight come true. But our joy is that by the time I knock out my opponent in the GWR fight, the world will then appreciate my exploits as a boxing legend. I expect that crown of victory to be bestowed on me and my country someday,” Bash Ali who joined the pugilist trade in 1978 concluded.
