Having carefully gone through the recent write-up titled, “Moving on to Season 3 of the revamped NPFL; it’s time to review GTI’s contract as financial partners” which was signed by Harrison Jalla, one is therefore at a loss to exactly pin down what must have prompted him in the first place to write such a piece other than trying to create the usual confusion which has all these years retarded the growth and progress of our elite league.
To many soccer pundits, Jalla’s write up without any prejudice has no substance and therefore not too far away from bringing the already fast-rising sure-footed Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) into disrepute.
Where was Jalla when NPFL was almost a lame duck? Why did he not help to rescue the League or bring an investor (s) to uplift our elite League?
Truth about Jalla’s write up is that it is from a well-known serial fault finder of the first and worst order of our football and league way back. Yes, go and ask the former corruption-ridden administrators as he stated, who Harrison Jalla is and you will get shocking answers without a wink.
To be honest, GTI took a huge burden on its shoulders to venture into the NPFL and with the business acumen and good thinking they were able to help in repositioning and restructuring the NPFL till date. Therefore, it is roundly disheartening to note this discordant tone from Jalla who is supposed to know better and truly applaud GTI’s progressive initiative for our beautiful game. In fact, for Jalla to call for the review of the ten years strategic contract between GTI and NPFL leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
To many soccer pundits, and stakeholders of NPFL, the period is required to vividly correct the anomaly created in the system over these years and fully restore the confidence and enhance the image of the league. However, having acknowledged the tremendous and swift improvement of NPFL matches and an improved management of the elite league judging from the two outgone football seasons, one can confidently say that the NPFL currently led by Hon Gbenga Elegbeleye is smoothly but steadily sailing through thus far. Therefore, Jalla’s call this time is worrisome in view of the perception in public domain at a time when the NPFL is still in need of other Critical Partners for its development.
It is imperative that Jalla should rather join hands with every well-meaning stakeholder and support institutions that have committed scarce resources to grow the elite League instead of this distractive measure he has suddenly and sadly resorted to.
We know that he may not be alone! Keen observers of Nigerian football cum League can vividly attest who Jalla is, but for the sake of applauding the gains so far made in the NPFL we don’t need to engage in such distractions.
