Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has promised to take back Abia Warriors from the Abia State Government as soon as he returns to the state.
Senator Kalu, a former two-term governor of the state, founded the club as Orji Uzor Kalu Babes while still the governor of the state but immediately after he left office, his successor, Theodor Orji took over the club and renamed it Abia Warriors for the state to have two teams in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
Orji Kalu, while fielding questions from Sports Journalists on the popular WhatsApp platform, Nigeria Sports Mouthpiece (NSN RELOADED), reiterated his desire to reclaim the club from the state government affirming it is his project and can not allow it to be wasted by the government that pays little or no attention to the plight of teams representing the state in the NPFL.
Senator Kalu affirmed.
“I started the club and named it Orji Uzor Kalu babes (OUK)”, the soccer loving administrator revealed.
Commenting on Enyimba International’s lackluster performances in recent times, Senator Kalu noted with dismay that the club is not well funded as the situation and news coming out of the People’s Elephants’ camp shows there is paucity of funds at the club.
The distinguished Senator stressed that repackaging of Enyimba is a collective effort of the Abia state government and the media. He said the government must put the right people in right places and place ethnicity into the dust bin when it comes to Enyimba and football matters. He says sports, football especially is a business and tool for development and must be treated as such.
“Enyimba under my admiration was the first club to sign a sponsorship agreement with Glo that was worth N120m. Dangote, MTN, and Budweizer (from South Africa) were all jostling to sponsor Enyimba but we chose Glo because we don’t want to put beer on our shirts but immediately I left the office, they mismanaged the money and Enyimba started going down” he regretted.
“Enyimba was never an Igbo team, when I was the governor, the Enyimba team was a Nigerian team, the team knows no Hausa or Yoruba or Igbo, unless if people there now have turned it to an Igbo team. People were coming from all over Nigeria to watch Enyimba when they were playing international matches” the senator reiterated.
Orji Uzor Kalu who once launched an audacious bid to take over Arsenal concluded the interview by reaffirming his commitment to the gunners take over even in the face of a present buzz by another individual and a couple of ex-players.
