NPL fail to pay Bayelsa players
NPL fail to pay players
Posted: 2009-02-19 14:18
Nearly two months after receiving a cheque from Bayelsa United as part of an arbitrated settlement of debts owed to players and officials of the clubs, the Nigeria Premier League is yet to offset the debts.
Among those owed are coaches David Egbiri and Jossy Dombraye, and KickOffNigeria.com was informed that repeated entreaties to the league governing body failed to yield fruit.
Last December, Bayelsa United were threatened with expulsion from the league if they failed to pony up nearly N20 million in debts to players and officials.
Although the club disputed some of the claims, they handed a draft of N10 million to the NPL on January 2, with the outstanding N9.4 million expected to come from the club's share of the Glo sponsorship fee.
This was also with a caveat that the NPL properly verify the claims prior to making payment.
However, with almost two months gone, the players tell KickOffNigeria.com that they have yet to see a kobo, claiming that the NPl may have diverted their funds.
But NPL Executive Secretary Alhassan Yakmut explained to KickOffNigeria.com that the delay lies squarely on Bayelsa United for failing to make the payment on time.
"The problem is that because Bayelsa paid in their money much later than the other clubs.
"We had opened an account where they were supposed to pay in all this money, and all the other clubs did so in good time. By the time Bayelsa came in with their cheque, we had already closed that particular account, so we put it into our Operations account.
"But most of our funds are in 90-day fixed deposit, as we have to manage our resources judiciously since we have a lot of capital projects to implement.
"That fixed deposit matured on Wednesday February 18, and all the affected players will get their money by next week," Yakmut explained.
He added that the situation had been explained to the players, but that some had resorted to blackmail and death threats.
"I have personally been speaking with the players and their agents to explain all this to them, but they kept making phone calls to different people and using militants to threaten lives."
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