Should we have grabbed him by the throat? - Saddick Obama on hugs with sports minister

Saddick Adams has defended cordial images of his meeting with sports minister Mustapha Ussif at the lobby of parliament on February 14, 2024.

Adams, along with other top sports journalists, led the 'Save Ghana Football' protest that saw hundreds march across principal streets of Accra against mismanagement of football in Ghana.

One of their main stops was at Parliament where they presented a petition to the House and sat through deliberations on the state of Ghana football by lawmakers.

A video of Saddick, Patrick Osei Agyemang (alias Songo) and Dan Kweku Yeboah cordially greeting the sports minister amid handshakes and hugs quickly went viral.

Critics said the video betrayed the anger that they displayed and the concerns they raised against the management of football but Obama differed in an X post, in which he offered a detailed response for the sequence of events at parliament.

The accusatory post against him by a user by the name @natioonn read: "Dear Saddick I’m your biggest fan and I support everything you’ve said about the state of Ghana Football but after watching the video of you and Country Man Zongo when you met the Sports Minister, I’m convinced that nobody is actually angry in this country. We are all hungry and need our share of the national cake."

Watch the video below:

Fire ???????????????????? man and demonstrators meet Sports minister to presented their Petition #SaveGHFootball
Oppong Nkrumah | Setting | Ken Ofori Atta | pic.twitter.com/0Oo1fuxOLs

— Osu official TV (@OsuofficialTV) February 14, 2024

Read Obama's response below:

Massa, We protested against an institution and its leader. The first point of our petition is asking for this person’s ministry to be investigated for financial infractions we have observed.

Parliament receives this petition in his presence and instantly commissions the house to begin the investigation.

We leave the chamber and the minister excuses the house to exchange short pleasantries with us and thank us for taking the bold initiative to help fix the game. We also express our appreciation that he came to meet us.

So to you, it is at the parliament lobby that we should have grabbed him by the throat or scowl like mad dogs just to show that we are angry?

We are sports journalists meeting a sports minister after protesting against his tenure. A man we have shared meetings with and exchanged ideas privately as brothers.

Is our courage as journalists rather not to be seen in us doing what we did and still exchanged pleasantries like civilized human beings?

I’m not trained to behave in an uncivilized manner against all manner of people.

There is certainly time for everything.

Massa, We protested against an institution and its leader. The first point of our petition is asking for this person’s ministry to be investigated for financial infractions we have observed.

Parliament receives this petition in his presence and instantly commissions the house to… https://t.co/mCmMjdQuKW

— Saddick Adams (@SaddickAdams) February 15, 2024

SARA

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