Monday, January 31, 2011

Court stops new NPL sponsorship bid


A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered a halt to attempts to conduct fresh bid for the title sponsorship rights of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL).
The order to maintain status quo in the matter was issued by the presiding judge of the Federal Court, Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako, on the Premier League board also addressed as the Nigeria Football League (NFL) in the suit, the sports minister Professor Taoheed Adedoja and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) also addressed as the Nigeria Football Association – all defendants – in the case.
The court ordered all parties in the matter to uphold status quo until the suit with No FHC/L/CS/68/2011 filed by Total Promotions Limited is determined.
Total Promotions Limited, which represented MTN Nigeria in the bid process for the Premier League title sponsorship rights, filed the case against the NPL, the NFF and the sports minister claiming a breach of contract.
During the court proceeding on Monday, counsel to Total Promotions Limited, Bambo Adesanya, a senior advocate of Nigeria (San), claimed that the defendants are masterminding plans to go ahead with a fresh bid irrespective of the court suit.
Also, there was a drama in court, as two lawyers stood up to represent the Premier League and this prompted Justice Murtala-Nyako to advise the defendants to sort out the issue of legal representation before the next hearing on February 9.
SuperSport.com learned that the next sitting at the court will be the hearing of the preliminary objection filed by the NPL and the NFF.
Total Promotions Limited’s suit against the NPL, the NFF and the sports minister comes after Globacom Nigeria Limited had withdrew a suit challenging the award of the Premier League title sponsorship to MTN (Total Promotion Limited’s client) claiming that due process was not followed in the whole exercise.

No comments:

Post a Comment