Why GLO Pulled of League Sponsorship

Fresh facts emerged at the weekend on why telecommunications giants Globacom Limited pulled out of the sponsorship of the Nigerian Premier League. And top of the 'sins' of the men managing the Premier League in Abuja was the unwholesome 'dashing out' of Glo money to consultants of the NPL.


A source close to Glo revealed at the weekend that despite the many accusations been peddled concerning the non remittance of the contractual money for the on going season, chiefs at the telecom company had indeed made up their minds not to continue with the deal because of the manner in which those who had no direct involvement with the current contract are making money at the NPL.

Fingers are been pointed at both Shehu Dikko, the marketing consultant to the NPL and one Emmanuel Oboh, the legal adviser to the league body as the two-some who have been getting paid from Glo money without any input in the new contract, which took effect in 2006.

Glo's current contract, which kicked in during the 2006 football season at a total cost, including value in kind, of N787 350 000, has now risen to N1 016 733 for the current season. Out of that sum, N922 383 000 is due in cash but the NPL claim that they are yet to receive a kobo, nearly six months since the payment was due.


But our source revealed that in a deal worth close to N1billion it remains mind bugling how clubs get pittance of N10m each (totaling N200m for the 20 Premier league clubs), while two individuals who have no involvement get N69m and N50m respectively as commission.

"By the time you add up the figure, you just realize that the consultants are pocketing N110m for doing nothing. How do you think that the owner of the company will feel if he gets to know of this?," queried the dependable source who also frowned at how administrative cost is taking lion share of the contract without activation of certain key parts of the contract.


We also learnt that the delay in the payment for the current season was deliberate so as to bring the NPL operators to the round table to discuss the contract and perhaps make certain clarifications.

However, the deadlock from the meeting between both parties last week appears to be the final nailing of the coffin of the deal as signs are clearly on the wall that Glo will not continue the deal. Although there are clauses in the contract on how to end the contract, it is not yet certain if Glo is likely to honour such payment due to what insiders refer to as non-activation of vital part of the existing contract.

NPL Executive Secretary Alhasan Yakmut had last week told KickOffNigeria.com that Monday meeting in Lagos ended in a stalemate when Glo offered to pay just N250 million of the N922 million due for the season.

"They made a proposal yesterday (Monday) that they wanted to pull out, and they would pro rata the cost of the league so far and pay us N250 million," Yakmut said.

"But we rejected that outright, as that was not what is contained in the contract. There is a clear procedure stated in the contract for withdrawal and they have not followed that process.

"In the end, the meeting finally ended in a stalemate."

Yakmut also added that Glo has been in breach of the contract since the start of the season, failing to pay up their sponsorship fee till date.

"In any case, they have been in breach of the contract since June. The contract states that the fee must be paid two months before the start of the season. It is now December, and they have still not paid."