Imo State representatives in this year’s NNPC/Shell Cup Football Competition, Ejemekwuru/Akabor Secondary School in Oguta LGA were on Wednesday stranded in Enugu after their zonal elimination game.
The Imo State team played a goalless draw with their Anambra counterpart at the Rangers training ground Independent lay-out, Enugu, in the first game of the competitions zonal elimination round.
After the game, the team who were supposed to retire back to their Hotel rooms could not do so due to lack of funds, instead the team decided to hit the roads back to Owerri at about 7pm. Imo Trumpeta also learnt that their meal before and after their match was however taken care of by former Heartland defender now with Enugu Rangers, Uche Oguchi.
The team which arrived Owerri at about 9:30 pm on Wednesday also took off to Enugu as early as 5:30 am Thursday morning to enable them keep a date with their second game of the competition against the Benue State team by 2pm. Imo is expected to progress to the next stage if they win their Benue counterparts. Cross River, the other team in the Enugu zone however did not show up for the competition and as a result, Anambra, Imo and Benue already have 3 points at their expense.
Information also has it that the Anambra team was heavily backed by their powerful contingent made up of their State Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Director of Sports, Director for school sports and their SA to the Governor on Sports who were all on ground at the match venue to ensure that their state won the three points.
Unfortunately, the same story cannot be told of the Imo team as the government failed to provide funds for the team which exposed them to the danger of plying the road at night and the stress of playing with fatigue.
