The Chairman of the Delta State Sports Commission, Onoriode Oborevwori, has been accused of assaulting the state’s Head Coach of Kickboxing, Steve Ogom Momah, over an unpaid debt of more than N200,000, SaharaReporters reports.
Onoriode, who was inaugurated in December 2024 by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, is alleged to have carried out the attack in his office last week.
According to sources, the incident occurred when the coach visited the chairman to request reimbursement for personal funds he reportedly spent during the 2025 Ogun State Sports Festival.
It was during the meeting that Onoriode allegedly assaulted him in the presence of staff members.
Sources further claimed that the coach was unable to defend himself due to professional rules guiding his sport.
Attempts by a former Director General of the commission, now Executive Assistant to the governor on sports, Felix Ohwojere, to resolve the matter were reportedly unsuccessful.
Some staff members of the commission who spoke to SaharaReporters called on Governor Oborevwori to intervene by either disciplining or replacing his younger brother.
In a petition titled “A Case of Abuse of Office, Battering and Assault Against Hon. Onoriodo Joshua Oborevwori,” addressed to key government offices, the incident was described as an “unholy development.”
The petition, signed by K.C. Chibo Esq. of Watchers Chamber, Asaba, on behalf of the coach, stated:
“We are solicitors to Mr. Steve Ogom Momah who we shall herein call our client and on whose instructions we write.
“It is our client’s instruction that he is a staff member of Delta State Sports Commission and the Head Coach of Kickboxing in the Commission. On the 10th day of March 2026, at about 10:55am, our client, in the course of his official duties, visited the office of the Sports Commission chairman… to request reimbursement of his personal funds used during the last year Ogun State Sport Festival but was shocked when Hon. Onoriodo Joshua Oborevwori resorted to beating and rough handling him.”
The petition further alleged:
“As if the physical battering was not enough, Hon. Onoriodo Joshua Oborevwori called a group of thugs known as ONE BELLE to beat up our client right inside the stadium but thanks to the few staff of the commission who intervened and prevented the said ONE BELLE from beating our client.
“This is an unholy development which if not handled, will set an ugly precedent and thereby subjecting civil servants to inhuman treatment in the hands of political appointees.”
It called for urgent intervention to “restore the dignity of civil servants.”
When contacted, Onoriode Oborevwori denied the allegation, saying, “Call the Acting GM; she was there when the incident took place.”
Efforts to reach the Acting General Manager were unsuccessful as calls to her phone were not answered at the time of filing the report.
Meanwhile, SaharaReporters noted that a similar incident occurred in 2018 involving Tony Okowa, younger brother of former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, who was reportedly involved in a physical altercation with former Secretary to the State Government, Festus Ovie Agas.
