Basketball players of Overcomers and Technical College representing Kogi state in the ongoing 2017 Milo Basketball Secondary School championship claimed that they have been shortchanged of their allowances.
The female players featuring at the ongoing championship in the Confluence Conference has accused the Kogi State sports coordinator, Joseph Abah of diverting funds meant to cater for their welfare.
Speaking to our correspondent, Otokpa Ene, a member of the Overcomers Secondary School said her team did not have food to eat which saw them crumbling easily to a 22-12 defeat against Benue in the semi-final.
According to her, we have been facing a lot here and could not access water to take their bath except for the night rain after our first match.
The team’s captain team, Abdulmaleek Sherifat lamented the unhealthy state of their accommodation, narrating how mosquito dealt with her and her mates.
“I fainted in camp but there was no first aid and was rushed to the specialist hospital. But unfortunately, they were on strike,” Abdulmaleek began.
“We drank rain water which is not healthy. I hope the state government will intervene in this sad incidents.
She further revealed that her team only got 600 naira on Saturday before been increased to 900 naira on Sunday, insisting they received no match allowance.
Head coach of the team, Saliu Topson said the girls were starved for days by the embattled sports coordinator, saying he refused to disclose the allotted funds.
Meanwhile, efforts made to get reactions from the embattled Mr Joseph Abah on the matter yielded no result as he failed to answer calls made to his mobile line.
Kogi state emerged third in the female category of the competition after defeating their Niger state counterpart by 15-14 points.
It recalled that Kogi representatives emerged champions in the male and female categories last year – a feat they failed to match this term.
