The chairman of the Nigeria Nationwide League has disowned telecommunication giant, Globacom, saying it is not the sponsor of the league.
Globacom was recently announced by the Nigerian Football Federatio, NFF, as the official sponsor of Nigerian leagues; after the resolution of the sponsorship tussle between the company and the representative of another telecom giant, MTN.
However, the Chairman of the Nationwide League, Ahmed Kawu, said he does not recognise Globacom as the sponsor of the league.
“Sponsorship involves certain processes and we at nationwide league hereby disown the sponsorship of globacom,” Mr. Kawu told PREMIUM TIMES in an exclusive interview. “Glo is not our sponsor. We are only hearing hearsays but we have not had any meeting with glo(bacom); but we had with airtel (another telecommunication company).”
Mr. Kawu said it would be unfair to create a monopoly in the sponsorship of Nigerian football.
“The issue of Nigeria football is not for one company. The leagues are independent on their own and can look for their own sponsors from anywhere,” he said. “Our league is battling to get sponsors to settle logistics, indemnity, securities, and other things.”
The league chairman also said the League Management Committee, LMC, currently running the Nigerian Premier League could not be foisted on the Nationwide League.
“The LMC cannot take over our league, nationwide league has its own congress. As far as I’m concerned nobody can do any meeting without our consent.
“I am the chairman and we have our own congress, NFF must even contact us before any decision is made, talk-less of LMC,” he said.
The Nationwide League is the second tier behind the Nigeria Professional Football League.
