By KATE OBODO

Heartland of Owerri FC head of Protocol officer Tonnex Chukwu has reacted to the accusation leveled against him by the Public Relations Officer of the Ondo State Football Agency (OSFA), J. A Adewunmi, that he instigated the incident that happened  during last weekend’s game against Heartland in Ijebu-Ode.

“He is not a journalist so he does not know what obtains in football practice. Concerning the incident, it would not have happened  if Sunshine Stars did not misbehave.  It all started when I went to sit with my   friends in the media. It is known that the stadium is an open place for anybody, so I went  to sit with my friends to chat and discuss. From where I was sitting,  no amount of noise from me could have attracted anybody’s attention.

“The next thing I saw was two hefty  men who came to my direction asking me out of the Stadium and I followed them,  the media officer of the NPL, Emeka Nwanli was a witness and others who were there. Journalists who were there insisted that I must not move out of the stadium but we were overpowered by them and in the process they took my phone and bracelet, wristwatch and money.

Even as I was being beaten, the chairman of the Ondo state Football Association came to my  rescue but by then the damage had been done. At the end of it,  Idoko called them and pacified them  but he did not talk to me. It was clear that Sunshine Stars manipulated the whole thing.

“ With what happened,  how could my attitude have instigated the trouble of that day. Idoko instigated the whole thing, I‘m only paying the price for my steadfastness. He sent people after me.  I’m looking up to the NPL, if they do not want to encourage violence they should deal with the likes of Idoko. They have not done anything by telling them to play two matches behind closed doors.

The likes of Idoko should be sanctioned as a deterrent to other people that want to disrupt matches,” the former Enyimba media officer said.