Nike ready to dish out red card to Nigeria- Threatens To walk away as NFF become jittery

General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federa­tion (NFF), Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, on monday disclosed that a series of negative and false publications by a section of the sporting media on the recent kitting deal the federation entered into with NIKE, may force the American sportswear manufacturer to pull-out.


At a press conference he addressed in Abuja
and attended by the NFF President, Amaju­
 Pinnick, the secretary solicited the media and other
stakeholders’ support, saying the NFF went
through a difficult situation to get the
sponsorship and Nigeria should not allow false
publications to thwart the partnership.
Sanusi revealed,

 “Just this morning I received a call from Nike saying they are embarrassed with the false and negative publications from some section of Nigeria media.

“They said they will get back to us on that 
matter. We don’t know what they would do
tomorrow; they said they are embarrassed with
what they saw on the pages of the newspapers. I
just want to appeal to you to please verify
whatever thing you are giving out in the interest
of Nigeria’s football.”

The NFF president, who was apparently worried
about the matter, urged the media to sheath
their sword and work for the interest of Nigeria.

“I  want us to understand the implication, and
NIKE is a corporate organisation, if they
discover all these they may pull out straight
away. For NIKE to even say yes, it was like tug of war,” Pinnick said.

Asked what would be the retainership fund from
NIKE in the $750,000 partnership for the first
year, Pinnick declined, but urged Nigerians to
be patient, promising that the NFF would give account of every money it received from any
sponsor.