We sait it, Irabor leads League IMC

*Hands NPL to Globacom?

When it comes to squealing the underground, we got this right again as usual. Former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Nduka “The Duke” Irabor is the chairman of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Nigeria Professional League (NPL) which is to be any moment from now will be formally announced by the appointing agency.

This newspaper had squealed of the plan to bring in Hon Irabor which unfolding events have gone ahead to prove us right again. The IMC is to be peopled by 12 wise men if the plans does not change at the last minutes with any dropping of name.

However, the IMC has on board the following people, Mike Enahoro a former Hawks of Makurdi player and AIT’s Saturday flagship, Sports File regular guest. Former Executive Secretary of the NPL, Salihu Abubakar is back.  Former NFF aspirant Shehu Dikko.

Also on the cruise is former NTA Sports Reporter and a former Manager with Globacom Communication Limited, Modele Sarafa-Yusuf, Lagos FA chairman Seyi Akinwumi and Mr. Ifeanyi Dike.

Representing the club owners are Mike Idoko and a former member of the Kaduna House of Assembly Alhaji Sabo Babayaro while Acting Executive Secretary of the NPL, Tunji Babalola will serve as the Secretary.

…Here is Hon. Irabor

Hon. and Mrs. Nduka Irabor 

Hon. Nduka Irabor, a journalist of International repute, was born on the 9^th December, 1958. He hails from Ika in Delta State of Nigeria. 
He attended St. Peter's Primary School Benin City and Nigerian Baptist Convention School, Boji-Boji-Owa in Delta State .

He did his Advanced Level Education at the Institute of Continue Education , Benin–City, Edo State in 1976. He acquired the following Profession Journalism Training: Certificate In Journalism from Times Institute of Journalism, Lagos 1979, Commonwealth Fellowship in Advanced Journalism from Commonwealth Fellowship work-study, British Media Organisation, 1986; Three months Sandwich Programme for Newspaper Managers in the United States of America, 1989.

He worked in various capacities with Bendel Radio, Benin City. 
The Observer Newspaper, Benin-City and Punch newspaper, Lagos.

He eventually joined The Guardian Newspaper in 1978 where he rose to the apex editorial position as the Editor of the African Guardian Magazine. In January 1991, he was appointed to serve his dear country as the Chief Press Secretary to the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In June 1999 he was elected into the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representing Ika Federal Constituency. He was the Chairman of the Committee on Communications.

He is most respected in the League of journalists worldwide for the singular decision to stick to the Ethics of journalism and refused to disclose their source of a story and get freedom. He and Tunde Thompson opted to stick to the Ethics and were jailed in 1984 under Decree No. 4 of 1984, which suppressed journalistic freedom.

Hon. Nduka Irabor is happily married with children.
He is an avid sports fan and a voracious reader. 

Shehu Dikko...the weak link

…Dikko, The weak link

Shehu Dikko was a Strategy and Marketing Consultant of the NPL. He was initaily working for the MTN on the issue of title sponsorship of the League until all of a sudden the tables tilted and unethically relocated to Globacom Nigeria Limited.

Globacom, though admittedly has been in sports philanthropy than sponsorship of the NPL, has been enmeshed in very dirty management of the title she got for a peanut.

One key issue remains the current sponsorship albatross on the neck of the League today is the brainchild of Shehu Dikko.

Shehu Diko was the agent that initiated the move to wrestle the rights of the Premier League from Globacom in 2006. He made a strong case for MTN to take over the sponsorship right of the Premier League from Globacom when the existing contract ended at the time.
For Globacom’s N90m, Dikko said MTN had offered N500 and fought strongly for them to take over the league sponsorship. But Globacom had the ‘first right of refusal’ in their contract and, with it, they fought back too to retain their rights after offering N693 million.
However, the league board surprisingly paid Dikko N60m as commission for the same Globacom sponsorship he had fought against. This moral crisis DOES NOT ordinarily qualify him to sit on the committee that is supposed to re-engineer the same League lest it is seen as handing over the League straight away to Globacom! With Modele Sarafa-Yusuf, a former senior staff of Globacom, can’t that conclusion be reasonable?