FULL STATEMENT: Senator Mustapha’s aide, Lanrey Rocky gives account of how he bought Kwara United match tickets rights
FULL STATEMENT: Senator Mustapha’s aide, Lanrey Rocky gives account of how he bought Kwara United match tickets rights
My name is Lanre Rocky. I am one of the actors in the picture of the event that happened yesterday. So, whatever I say or write is a direct account of what transpired in the Kwara United match imbroglio.
I am also an adviser to the Senator on Sports Development. I've been in this position for over two years now and I've never been found wanting in my roles. This is not any different too.
Above it all, I am also an agent. I buy matches. This much a lot of people know of me. So, I am not a stranger to the issues in contention.
We buy matches from the Kwara United between the range of N500k - N700k. With that, you've to bear both the risk and gains that come with the rights. Sometimes you make profits, some other times, you make loses. But the moment you buy the match tickets rights from the authority, you've the full liberty to manage that rights as you want.
So, in this case, after the Kwara United's unfortunate loss to Akwa-Ibom United on Sunday, I advised my principal, Senator Saliu Mustapha, to consider buying off the tickets for supporters with the intention that it would boost the morale that was down on the part of both the players and the supporters. This isn't the first time I've so advised him. It flows that this isn't the first time he's bought off gate tickets for the benefits of thousands of sports lovers. Everyone, except those that are in self denial knows how much the Senator loves and supports sports. No one, including the cheap haters, could erase that records.
It took a while before I could convince him to part with his money, because as it later played out, he feared that the current political atmosphere might not be too friendly for such a gesture. I assured him otherwise.
Unfortunately, by the time I got his greenlight, I realised that someone else had already bought the match right. When I inquired about who bought it, it happened to be a colleague, Abbey Emmanuel.
So, I approached him to buy off the rights from him. And as a business man that he is, he must make profit from his rights. I bought the match from him at an amount way more than how much he paid to Kwara United (whoever wants evidence can come direct to me for the transfer receipt). We also negotiated some other logistics involved, including security, publicity, ticket printing, banners etc. Apart from this, we also planned to give a token for the successful players in the name of the Governor and the Senator.
Because I am a stakeholder at the stadium, I tried within reasonable limits to inform a few other relevant stakeholders in Kwara United and generally at the stadium. I told them for whom the game was being promoted. I will prefer to keep their identities private for obvious reasons.
Nothing in our planning and consultations with stakeholders gave any clue that the whole thing would be messed up on the altar of politics like it later happened.
But the moment we rolled out publicity for the games, hell was let loose by the do-gooders in the stadium who believe that public institutions and properties belong to them.
Day in, day out, a lot of people come into the stadium to support sports in their respective ways. A week earlier, some philanthropists have come to the stadium to donate money direct to the boys to cheer them. He didn't have to talk to anybody to do that. So many people also donated funds even yesterday to encourage the boys, why didn't anyone insist that it must pass through their tables before they announced them?
If they said that the management had similar plans, at what point did they come up with such an afterthought having sold the match right to an agent already A DAY EARLIER? And why did it take the announcement from the Senator before the Kwara United management rolled out their own plan? Is anyone as foolish as not to realise that the management latter announcement was a cheap face-saving afterthought?
For the ignorant vuvucelas and the WhatsApp warriors who are jumping on the issues without information, one would expect that if they can't be sensible and smart with their opinions, they should at least be reasonable and fair a bit. Is it not better to keep their mouths shut than to dabble into what they know next to nothing about?
Please, let's not drag this matter beyond this messy level. I hold my head high, and I've nothing to gains in the downfall of anyone too. But if we fa gburu, gburu a fagbo o. Let's let sleeping dogs lie abeg! Enough said until otherwise provoked.
