Barrister Godwin Dudu-Orumen, Chairman of Edo State Sports Commission, (ESSC) has dismissed reports that only Benin based athletes are featuring at the ongoing third Edo State Sports Festival.
On Monday, there had been reports that athletes from the other 17 Local governments in the state had been excluded from participating in the festival.
The reports quoting unnamed sources in the “sports ministry” said Oredo Local government athletes would take their place.
Reacting to the reports, Dudu-Orumen in a statement issued by Nnamdi Okosieme, his Special Adviser on media, said such plan existed only in the minds of the writers of the stories.
“It is absolute falsehood. The third Edo State Sports Festival as the name suggests is an event involving all the local government areas in the state. It is not Oredo Sports Festival,” he said.
The ESSC boss advised the public to disregard the reports as they were fabricated and calculated to mislead the public.
“There are a few individuals intent on causing mischief. It appears it is not in their interest for this festival to take place. This is not the first time they will be spreading false reports about the festival. Only a few days ago, the purveyors of this fake news reported that the festival had been postponed. After they were exposed on that one, they have come up with another ridiculous caper,” Dudu-Orumen stated.
