•As Stadium Has No Roof
Have you been to Otunba Dipo Dina Stadium in Ijebu-Ode of late? If you go there now, you will weep, because the stadium complex no longer has a roof. Everything is in tatters. The roof has been thrown off by wind storm and once it rains all the spectators are usually drenched. Many Ijebu-Ode indigenes have been calling on all rich Ijebu-Ode indigenes, who can afford it, to come to the rescue of the Ogun State Government and help renovate the stadium which has become a shadow of itself, owing to neglect by the immediate past administration of Senator Ibikunle Amosun. An insider revealed that unfortunately, the new Dapo Abiodun administration in the state met an empty treasury, so it can’t immediately effect any repairs on the big stadium complex in Ijebu-Ode.
Right now, everywhere has been overgrown with weeds. Most of the facilities have become run down and non-functional. The walls of the stadium need urgent repainting. City People visited the stadium complex last week and found it in a state of total disrepair. Far from being a beehive of activity for Sports, the stadium has been reduced to a mere drinking spot for Ijebu-Ode indigenes every evening. Parties and reception are also held there.
“The sight of a once magnificent and eye-catching edifice has absolutely turned to an eyesore”, wrote a writer Kehinde Alaka. The covered terrace has become so dilapidated that rain falls freely on the spectators. The VIP pavilion has become like an oven because the air conditioners have been bad. We hear the power supply to the stadium may have been cut off. Most of the plastic seats on the terrace have been broken while some others have been removed. The ones that are adorned with foam have become so tattered that it would take a second thought for one to sit on it if one doesn’t want to be a bug carrier to one’s household”, wrote the same writer.
He tells you more: “the Otunba Dipo Dina International Stadium, formerly called the Otunba Mike Adenuga Stadium, was originally known as the Gateway Stadium. It is a multi-purpose stadium in Ijebu-Ode. It is used mostly for football matches and it is a training ground for some football teams. The stadium has a capacity to seat 20,000 people. It was renovated for the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup”.
“The stadium was renamed in 2011 after Otunba Dipo Dina, an assassinated Ijebu politician”.
“During the era of Otunba Gbenga Daniel administration in Ogun State, 3 stadia were built to boost sporting activities in the state. They were aside massive renovation of the existing MKO Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta, the state capital. Among the 3 new stadia was the Gateway International Stadium, Ijebu-Ode which was later renamed Dipo Dina Stadium by Ibikunle Amosun, the APC governor of the State. Others were Gateway International Stadium in Sagamu and Ilaro, respectively. The stadia were built to promote sports activities and possibly take away the youth from all forms of social vices by getting them engaged in sporting events. They were also intended to create jobs for the citizenry as they turned out to be a beehive of commercial activity, which in turn improved on the resources base of the state”.
“Under the Daniel administration, the building of the stadium boosted Ogun State’s chance of earning the hosting right of the National Sports Festival in 2006 which arguably remains the best ever with a yield of about #92m profit margin. Towards 2009, the facilities at the Gateway International Stadium Ijebu-Ode could match that of any stadium in the world as it became one of the best Stadia in the country then to grant it FIFA’s approval as one of the venues chosen to host matches for the FIFA World U-17 Football tournament hosted by Nigeria. The synthetic pitch was a beauty to behold. The red track was well laid. The terraces were neatly fitted with different colour plastic seats segmenting the sitting arrangement. The dressing rooms and Commentary box exposed you to the state of the art equipment”.
“Perhaps, no city and state exemplified the carnival, spectacle and many gains of the U-17 World Cup than Ijebu-Ode for the 3 matches that held inside the magnificent Stadium. The pace of economic activities heightened, especially those with entertainment content”.
“On the day of the first match, the fear of FIFA that the fans would not come in large numbers as experienced in other centres disappeared hours before the commencement of the match between USA and UAE. Ogun people trooped out en masse – the fans, old and young, workers, traditional rulers, indeed, from all walks of life came to witness the final admission of Ogun State into the rank of world comity of sports. The same spectacle was repeated during the second-round match between regional foes Argentina and Colombia on November 4, 2009. And when Switzerland, the eventual winners of the tournament, took on Italy in a quarter-final match at the same venue, even the skeptic agreed with the admirers that PDP administration ably led by OGD had successfully used sport as a tool for development. To ensure the maintenance of the stadium, OGD decided to name the stadium after respectable and rich Ogun State indigenes, who will be made to put down huge sums that could be put in fixed deposits and the interest on it used to maintain the stadium”.
“The stadium began to suffer neglect when On May 29th 2011, Senator IbikunleAmosun was sworn in as the new Governor of Ogun State. One of the highpoints of his inaugural speech was the renaming of the Gateway International Stadium after the Late Otunba Dipo Dina, the leading gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of under Action Congress (AC) who was murdered the previous year. That act of Senator Amosun was ostensibly to honour the late politician who happened to be the major obstacle to the governor’s emergence as the AC standard-bearer towards the 2011 general election. Hitherto, the previous OGD administration had renamed the facility after a sports lover and one of the illustrious sons of the state, Otunba Mike Adenuga, for his love and promotion of Sports in the country”.
The arrangement guaranteed the sponsoring of the state football team – Gateway FC by Mike Adenuga. He was made to take up the maintenance of the stadium from the state government. And he paid the OGSG for naming the stadium after him.
Wrote the writer: “There is nothing wrong in Amosun’s decision to rename the stadium. After all, the late Dipo Dina was an illustrious son of Ijebu just like Mike Adenuga. But what is worrisome and condemnable was the governor’s total neglect of the stadium while he was in office”.
