Heartland football club players yesterday stormed government house,Owerri in protest over unpaid salaries and allowances.
The players who carried placards assembled at main entrance of the Dan Anyiam stadium located at the ever-busy Wetheral Road from where they walked to government house round about and blocked the gate leading to Imo government house.
Majority of the players were clad in jersey, pants, socks and boots and carried placards with various inscriptions.They carried placards with inscriptions as,”pay us 11 months salaries and bonuses”,” Pay us, we committed no crime”,etc.
Some of the players who spoke to this reporter on condition of anonymity revealed that individually, they have made sacrifices to be winning matches for the state but the government has no “value for us”.
According to them, efforts to have the commissioner for Youth and Sports, Hon Dan Chike Ogu and other political actors in the club to resolve the issue have not yielded any fruite and those in authority keep dribbling them while forgetting that some of them are married with children.
When contacted, the head of media of Heartland football club, Mr Solomon Onu, said the footballers acted out of emotion, perhaps may have fallen in the hands of politicians who wish to capitalize on the situation to score political point.
He described the protest as palace Coup, adding that most of the protesters do not know the interest of those behind the protest.
He averred that the issues raised by the players were at the verge of being resolved before today’s protest.” Is unfortunate that even those owed two months joined in the protest”.
