Good morning guys,
It has been a while, hasn’t it? I have sat back, watched quietly, and hoped that what we were seeing on the pitch would eventually make sense. EgumaBall, as people now call it, is full of huff and puff and nothing else. All that noise, all that effort, and yet nothing that resembles a clear football identity.
But today, we have far bigger demons haunting this football club. I want us to talk about how this club treats its own players. Not the ones who score. Not the ones who get the applause. I am talking about those who get injured while fighting for the badge.
Players like Ifeanyi Ihemekwele.
Players like Eze Pinto.
Players like Nathaniel Asibe.
Footballers who got injured wearing Enyimba blue.
Footballers whose careers now hang by a thread because when they needed us the most, the structure that should protect them has gone missing.
This club is funded by the Abia Government. Dr Alex Otti pays salaries fully and has entrusted people to run the club. But does he know what is happening behind the scenes?
Are those he empowered giving him the real situation?
Do they inform him that injured players are being told to handle treatment by themselves?
Do they admit that careers could end early due to slow or neglected medical care?
Because clearly, something is not adding up.
Those given the responsibility to manage Enyimba seem more occupied with their own gains than with the welfare of the players and the progress of the club.
Which brings us to a very simple question:
What is the point of calling yourself a club administrator when your actions prove you are pursuing something other than the good of the club?
A footballer should never have to open GoFundMe because he got injured wearing our badge. Imagine bleeding for the blue shirt, then begging strangers online to save your career. Imagine scrambling to find a cheap clinic or an unqualified doctor because proper medical care is unaffordable.
What sort of football club is being run here?
We celebrate them when they score.
We scream their names when they shine.
But when their body breaks down in service… silence.
A club is not defined by old trophies in a cabinet.
A club is defined by how it treats the humans who win those trophies.
Maybe the next step is to locate these players, sit with them, and let them tell their stories publicly. Let the world hear from the horses’ mouths what they have gone through.
Because when a player wears Enyimba blue, he deserves more than applause.
He deserves protection for the body that carries our hope.
Until that happens, we will keep asking loudly:
Who is defending the defenders of this badge?
EnyimbaEnyi 💙
