Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh, has dismissed bribery allegations levied against him by former world boxing champion, Bash Ali.

In a letter he signed, the minister said Ali’s desperate and unprovoked attack on his person is an attack on decency, honesty, and integrity, and although he could have ignored Ali’s allegations but after deep consultations decided to come out to set the records straight.

In a statement the Minister said he has instructed his lawyer to write Bash Alli demanding an immediate public retraction of his allegations and to render a public apology within one week, as failure to do this on his part will leave me with no option than to approach the courts to both clear my name and seek damages.

Back in 2021, an Abuja High Court had issued a restraining order on Ali, barring him from further making or publishing any denigrating or defamatory material against the former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare.

But in a fresh Open letter to president Bola Tinubu, Ali claimed that the current Sports Minister John Enoh demanded “For Another US$1M” (One million dollars) from him, in order to endorse his plan to stage what he calls the oldest boxers fight in Nigeria.