Social media as a communication channel has been beneficial in personal and corporate engagements. It has equally spurn fresh challenges in the media industry as it has bypassed the traditional media gatekeeping roles that ensure that slanderous and inappropriate materials are kept off public view.
A case in point is that of someone who goes by the name Ebbyzymore Numa, who has taken to several WhatsApp groups to tarnish the person of Otunba Gbenga Elegbeleye and the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL)
His attacks on the person of Elegbeleye are most detasteful and the height of callousness. Such a brazen attempt to muddle the image of a public official is capable of discouraging people from venturing into public office.
Reading through the cocktail of rubbish, he has been spreading is a struggle to comprehend the mind of a lunatic. It is actually not worth responding to, but for the fact that many undescerning members of these groups may be misled if the lies are not controverted.
Where does one start from? Bitnob is a fintech company that entered into a deal with the defunct League Management Company (LMC) and has had no relationship with the NPFL since the board came into place.
The hallucinating mind of this same fellow led him to confuse some AI generated information on the NFF sponsorship in misrepresenting the NPFL. One such case is the Premium Trust Bank sponsorship of the national teams.
Also laughable is the categorisation of AITEO as a sponsor of the NPFL. This shows that the fellow is probably a mental case because AITEO in their time of association, sponsored the national teams and the Federation Cup. At no time did the oil company had any dealings with the defunct LMC and was already out of football at the inception of the NPFL.
His dabbling into ongoing discussions with the British agency, IMG is as misguided as it is very inappropriate. Again, those knowledgeable in international sports management can attest to the fact that IMG as a management consulting group, works with leagues, sports federations to attract sponsorship and grow the sport. The NPFL and IMG are yet to sign any deals and irresponsible concocted write-ups as the one under reference can scupper our ongoing efforts to convince them to work with us.
In a previous post, he listed sponsorship revenue sources of the NPFL to include Bet9ja at N400m, Cadbury at N50m, Coca-Cola at N50m, Supersports at N150m, Nigeria Breweries at N600m and IMG/JVCO at $100m dollars. These are all figments of an evil imagination spinned to denigrate and blackmail the leadership of the NPFL. Bet9ja had a one season deal with the defunct LMC, and so did Nigeria Breweries. Supersport ended their broadcast deal with the same LMC in 2016 or thereabouts. In all, it needs to be restated that the NPFL has not entered into of these sponsorships listed in the post except for Startimes which was disclosed publicly.
The broadcast partnership between the NPFL and StarTimes was signed publicly, and the financial details were declared at the media event held to announce that deal. A simple Google search will churn out many reports on this subject. But the sick mind of Numa is talking about a lack of transparency.
GTI Assets Management is a financial partner of the NPFL that has provided a ten years guarantee of funding for the league while it works to generate sponsors for the NPFL to recover its investment. This arrangement was also celebrated publicly and is available online.
In the warped mind of this fellow, the NPFL should assume the role of the government in providing security for clubs when they travel on highways for matches. Nothing can be more ridiculous. His lack of grasp of the workings of the league and club management led him to ask the NPFL to provide shares of sponsorship revenue for players.
The irresponsible mention of NNPC as a sponsor of the league shows how befuddled with evil intent the mind of this fellow works. Everyone conversant with football in Nigeria must have heard that the NFF and the NPFL have been holding talks with the oil company towards working out a collaboration to strengthen the financial base of the football industry. Such deliberate distortion is capable of scuttling the ongoing discussion.
The NPFL held its Annual General Meeting on Monday, July 28, and the clubs were presented a financial report, which will be reviewed by the auditors. A financial projection for the new season was equally presented and adopted. The media was in attendance and had a one-on-one session with the NPFL Chairman, during which many questions on a vast range of issues were asked and answered. At no point did Elegbeleye raise his voice in anger, and at no point did he disparage any members of the media. He shared wisecracks with those in attendance.
This Ebbyzymore Numa is obviously not a journalist, and if he happens to be one, he has not been properly trained.
Harry Iwuala
NPFL Communications Director
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