Sporting and other commercial business activities were grounded in the early hours of yesterday as Coaches in the employment of the Edo Sports Council shutdown sporting activities at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium.
The protesting coaches who had converged in the early morning placed the main gate of the stadium under lock and key, chanting solidarity songs around bonfires.
It would be recalled that the coaches had embarked on indefinite strike action in protest of the new promotion policy of the state ministry of sport.
Anger was fueled up as the Director of Sports, Sunny Airende who was at the stadium in an effort to resolve the crisis was almost manhandled by the protesting workers.
The commissioner for Sports, Presley Ediagbonya was also at the scene trying to calm nerves and later invited all aggrieved persons to his office.
The ministry had issued a circular which suggest that promotion of coaches and athletes would now be based on certification.
The coaches under the leadership of Benard Joman had protested the decision, with the argument that their promotion should be based purely on productivity and not certification.
The Governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole was said to have invited the coaches, ministry of sports and the state’s sport council for a meetingon Monday to find a solution to the crisis.
Joman who spoke with newsmen on Tuesday, however said the meeting could not hold as a result of the busy engagement of the governor.
Joman said this would continue until the decision of the ministry to promote coaches based on certification was rescinded.
“We are not against education but we are against using certification and not performance as a basis for promoting coaches,” he stated.