BY ANDREW EKEJIUBA
The 2021 Nigeria Professional Football League has come to an end, with Akwa United emerging champions, but with the massive debts owed to players and coaches, Bayo Adegboyega has made a passionate appeal to the League Management Company to attend to issues of overdue payables on its table.
“I know the LMC is trying, but it’s actually absurd not to call erring clubs to order when it comes to paying players and officials their entitlement.
“The complaint of so many players has been on the table of the LMC for a while, though an insider revealed that the Shehu Dikko-led body was working on it, but nothing positive at the moment, hopefully now that the season is over, the LMC will do enough to stamp its authority and ensure that owing teams pay up,” Adegboyega said.
“It’s no longer a news that Sunshine Stars of Akure are owing players and officials about ten months’ salaries, it’s not a surprise that the Akure gunners only managed to escape relegation on the final day of the league since there was no reason to give their best, morale and motivation stopped coming from the state government.
“While I am quite aware that the teams owing cannot pay without the state governments releasing the funds, I’m however aware that the LMC could force them to pay up by sanctioning the teams in question as stipulated in the rule book guiding the Nigeria Professional Football League.”
It could be recalled that Sunshine Stars and Heartland were victims in the past, as they were denied the opportunity of registering players and they quickly sourced for means to sort their debts.
“However, this is the time for the LMC to act since there is enough time for a review now that the season has been wrapped up,” Adegboyega concluded.
