Sports Development Minister John Owan Enoh says except there is an apology, he will proceed with a legal action against a former World Boxing Champion, Bash Ali for making false claims against his person.
Bash Ali is alleged to have claimed in an ‘Open letter to president Bola Tinubu that Sports Minister John Owan Enoh demanded “For Another US$1M” one million dollars from him in order to endorse his plan to stage what he calls the oldest boxers fight in Nigeria.
Noting that Bash Alli had sought to impugn the character and reputation of some of his predecessors in office, without any shred of evidence, senator Owan Enoh said Bash Ali is bent on arm twisting the Federal Government to spend upwards of $50m USD to stage his fight which Successive Ministers of Sports have told him is not the responsibility of the government but a business that should be executed by the private sector.
As a response, Senator Owan Enoh, in a statement, revealed that he has instructed his lawyer to write Bash Alli demanding an immediate public retraction of his allegations and to render a public apology within One week.
The minister concluded that should Bash Ali fail to do this, he will be left with no option than to approach the courts to clear his name and seek damages.
In the meantime efforts to get Bash Ali to speak on the matter yielded little as he could not be reached via telephone.
The story of Bashiru Lawrence Ali and his desire to put Nigeria on the map as the oldest heavyweight champion in boxing history has been running for over fifteen years.
While many believe he has not much to offer in terms of actual ability to withstand the rigours of intense physical blow-by-blow exchanges in the ring, other experts insist that the Edo state born veteran of the fistic and pugilistic trade of boxing should be supported as he has what it takes to become the oldest man to win a professional heavyweight boxing title.
EDITOR: TIENABESO BIBIYE
