By Ime Bassey
Head of Media of the Nigeria Premier League Board, Akin Akinbobola has explained why clubs in the league backed down on an earlier position to reject the slashed sponsorship money presented to them by a former sponsor of the league, Globacom.

Speaking to inside Out Premier League, Akinbobola said the decision which caused the clubs to accept N7 million each, N3 million short of the expected amount they would have collected was a positive compromise to move the league forward.

League action

Stressing that the league board had to let go its pride for the benefit of the game in the country, he said,“We had a compromised agreement to collect the title sponsorship money from Glo. If we had collected full sponsorship money, all the clubs would have got N10 million each. This was not possible as some well meaning Nigerians intervened and we succumbed knowing that the league has been in a mess for too long. There was need for us to put our swords down and move the league forward.

“We had to make a little sacrifice just like we have been doing before. As we did not collect the full money, the clubs had to collect the N7 million because they have many financial burdens to solve.

“The Minister Sports, Chairman of the NFA and President-General of the Nigerian Supporters’ club, all came in, asking that we should come to a compromise. And moreover, the pressure was on us to reach a compromise because there have been so much drama in the league so we needed to reach a positive concession not because anybody was given any money but because we felt it’s needful for us to move forward.

“The club owners agreed with us in this regard, that is, almost 80 to 90 percent of the congress was in unity that we should just get over the issue as they all felt enough was enough,” Akinbobola said.

However an official attached to one of the  South-South clubs said the decision was a betrayal by some top officials of the NPL and some greedy chairmen of the clubs who were compromised by monetary inducement.

“It is baffling that clubs which bear the brunt of lack of funds to run their teams effectively could see good money and reject it for peanuts because of their selfish interests. I am an official of a club and I know what we go through to take care of the players and other aspects of the club’s administration,”the official said.