Okocha ‘goes into hiding’ as fight over Delta FA elections continues
Fuludu holds congress today
THE chairman of Delta State Football Association (DFA), former Super Eagles captain, Austin Jay Jay Okocha is said to have ‘disappeared’ as two former internationals, Edema Fuludu and Victor Ikpeba continue their battle to succeed him.
In 2015, Okocha emerged as DFA chairman following a landslide victory in the board election, where he defeated former Tolopia FC boss, Evans Egbo. But the former Super Eagles playmaker (Okocha) later handed over to his deputy, Edema Fuludu, due to his inability to combine his ‘busy schedule’ in Lagos with the DFA job.
The decision by Fuludu, who had been functioning as DFA acting chairman, to go for the chairmanship position in the coming board election has pitched him against another board member, Victor Ikpeba.
learnt yesterday that in a bid to boost his chairmanship campaign, one of the candidates decided to lure Okocha to his side, but his effort has not yielded the needed result.
A source hinted that the candidate wants Okocha at all cost to call a Congress of DFA, where the date and venue for the coming election will be decided.
“The candidate is very desperate in becoming the next chairman of the DFA. He has been searching for Okocha all over the country to call for a Congress of the DFA because the NFF has made it clear that it will only recognize a Congress that is called by either Jay Jay Okocha Fuludu.” or Edema
learnt yesterday that the tenure of the current DFA board will officially ends tomorrow. Another source hinted yesterday that a DFA Congress called by Edema Fuludu would hold today in Agbarho, near Warri.
Some stakeholders see Fuludu as preferred candi- date for the DFA chairmanship position. To them, picking Lagos-based Ikpeba would amount to repeating the mistake of the past after Okocha allegedly abandoned the DFA job due to his ‘busy schedule’ in Lagos.
An alleged plan by the Delta Sports Commission chairman, Tony Okowa to ‘impose’ Ikpeba as the DFA chairman was rebuffed by the NFF last week.
WORLD number one Naomi Osaka says she was not willing to “sacrifice” her happiness following her surprise split from coach Sascha Bajin last week.
Osaka split with Bajin 16 days after winning the Australian Open, which sealed back-to-back major titles after she won her first at the 2018 US Open. “Everyone thinks it was a money-related issue, but it wasn’t,” said Osaka. “I wouldn’t put success over my happiness. I’m not going to sacrifice that just to keep a person around.
“That’s one of the most hurtful things I’ve ever heard.”
Japan’s Osaka, 21, had worked with Bajin for just over a year when she announced the split on Twitter.
Bajin, the 2018 WTA coach of the year, is a former hitting partner of Grand Slam champions Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Caroline Wozniacki.
Under him, Osaka rose from world number 72 at the start of 2018 to the summit of the rankings little over a year later.