Three Reasons Why Sports Minister John Enoh Was Sacked

The removal of Sen. John Owan Enoh as Minister of Sports Development, by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in a cabinet reshuffle as announced on Wednesday, did not come as a surprise.

There had been telling signs and it was only a matter time before the chicken comes home to roost.

President Bola Tinubu with Sen. John Enoh. Photo | X

Sen. Enoh’s 433 days in office had been characterized by controversies and poor management including a disastrous ₦12billion campaign at the Paris Olympics.

His ratings plummeted as did public opinion of government’s true inclination to Sports, while the Minister grappled with repeated administrative and professional lapses under his watch.

Here Are Three Reasons Why Sen. John Owan Enoh Failed

Sen. John Owan Enoh’s appointment as a non-technocrat received knocks – not that it was a big surprise.

However, the “novice” Minister, allegedly, did not consult with stakeholders – nor parley with predecessors on major policy directions – the consequences being the lack of support from major political figures.

When Victor Osimhen went on a social media meltdown in June, where he spewed vitriols at the Super Eagles coach and Nigerian football fans, it was a clear breakdown or lack of code of conduct.

That incident spiraled out of control, but only after skewed details of a closed door meeting of top NFF officials with the Minister was leaked.

Rather than address the issues, Sen. Owan swept it under the carpet, causing a turmoil which led to Finidi George’s resignation and the NFF-Labbadia embarrassment.

On top of that, Nigeria now teeters on the brink of missing consecutive FIFA World Cup tournaments for the first time since its debut in 1994.

The final straw would be the Ministry’s lukewarm approach to the Nigeria-Libya conflict during the AFCON qualifier.

A messy diplomatic row ensued from the poor handling of relations between the NFF and its Libyan counterpart.

When it emerged the Government had spent a ₦12billion budget on its contingent to Paris 2024, Sen. Enoh had more questions to answer than his X character limit would allow.

The Olympic Games, Paris 2024, has ended, and I accept that our performance should have been a lot better. It obviously fell short of our objectives, expectations, and hopes of Nigerians. I must apologize to our compatriots and reflect on what went wrong while looking forward to… pic.twitter.com/MIEcKTrmK8

— Senator John Owan Enoh (@OwanEnoh) August 11, 2024

Paris was a monumental failure, coupled with the fact that it gulped the biggest budget expenditure in Nigeria’s Summer Games campaign.

Futile attempts to save face led to further scrutiny as the Minister then shifted blame to the Nigeria Olympic Committee.

During the games, the Minister and his team were left red faced with a number of embarrassing situations including borrowing Cycling equipment from Team Germany, in-tournament.

The news came to light from an unofficial channel.

My attention has been called to a post on social media by Ese Ukpeseraye. After reading the post and some follow up comments i swung into action. Ese’s post seems to have been grossly misunderstood, perhaps also because it didn’t seem to give proper context to the matter in… pic.twitter.com/zWk0wIkXV4

— Senator John Owan Enoh (@OwanEnoh) August 8, 2024