Igwe Onouha
Nigeria – February 05, 2016 – Management of Abia Warriors Football Club of Umuahia has refuted news making the rounds that they sold their prized asset and CHAN 2016 revelation Chisom Elvis Chikatara to Wydad Athletic Club Casablanca of Morocco for 700,000 USD.
Refuting the story, Principal Partner of Activity Chambers, the club’s legal consultants, Barrister Johhny Ogbah admitted that Chisom has been transferred to Wydad Athletic Club, but insisted that the figure quoted by the papers is not true.
“The truth is that Chisom Chikatara is now a player of WAC, Morocco. All parties have agreed and signed the necessary documents, but the figure being quoted is not correct. It is important that journalists verify stories before rushing to publish it. I read the story and there was no single quote from an official of either clubs, or the player or his intermediary. I wonder where the journalists got the figures they are brandishing from.
“Our national dailies too should be careful to verify stories they see on websites before publishing them. A simple phone call may have given the true picture of the whole scenario but nobody did so, they just rushed and published without verifying. This is very bad,” Ogbah said.
Asked to reveal the exact figure, Barrister Ogbah said it would be unethical and unprofessional for him to do so, as this is privileged information.
“As is the practice in other climes, if you must report a figure, confirm it. If you do not confirm it, then report is as an undisclosed fee as it is the business of both clubs involved to choose to disclose the fee to the press if they wanted, otherwise they are not bound by any law to do so,” Barrister Ogbah further revealed.
In his reaction, the Chairman, Abia Warriors Football Club of Umuahia, Chief Emeka Inyama in refuting the figures being branded as Chikatara’s transfer fee, said the 21-year-old Ibeku-born striker has already signed the dotted lines to join Wydad Casablance adding that he was now updating his documents at the Moroccean embassy to enable him unite with his new club as soon as possible.
