Sports Minister debunks allegation of demanding $1m from Bash Ali
Kunle Sanni
The minister of sports development, John Enoh has refuted allegations of demanding the sum of $1million from Nigeria boxing champion, Bash Ali over his quest to break the Guinness Book of World Record.
Enoh in a press statement on Sunday, called on Nigerians to dismiss the allegations against him, noting that the boxing champion has a penchant of blackmailing sports ministers who had served in the past.
“At no point in time did I demand any form of gratification from Bash Alli,” the minister said.
“The questions to ask are these: One million dollars from where? If Bash Alli had one million dollars, why has he not staged his fight? His spurious allegation suffers from fatal deformity and is based on the erroneous impression that the government in Nigeria is a cash cow at the mercy of public servants to pillage at will,” he explained further.
He said his reaction to a trending video in which Bash Ali had called out Enoh accusing him of corruption for demanding the sum of $1million from him in order to support his quest to fight for in a Guinness Book of World Record match in Nigeria and not in the United States of America.
In reaction, the minister accused Bash Ali of attempting to arm twist the Federal Government to spend upwards of $50million to stage his fight.
He said Successive Ministers of Sports have rightly told him that his plan to stage this fight is not the responsibility of the government but a business that should be executed by the private sector.
“Bash Alli’s plan to stage his boxing fight in Nigeria has a long history spanning almost two decades. To achieve this personal aspiration, he has deployed all manner of strategies including naked blackmail and underhand tactics in his desperate effort to arm twist the Federal Government to spend upwards of $50million to stage his fight. Successive Ministers of Sports have rightly told him that his plan to stage this fight is not the responsibility of the government but a business that should be executed by the private sector.
He said he has instructed his lawyer to write to Bash Alli demanding an immediate public retraction of his allegations and to render a public apology.
He said, “He will have just one week to do this; the failure to do this on his part will leave me with no option than to approach the courts to both clear my name and seek damages.
