Wikki Tourists, a team in the Nigeria Professional Football League, claim that the club’s administration did not desert their players and staff on Tuesday when they were traveling to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, for their NPFL Match Day 2 match against Dakkada FC on Wednesday.
The Giant Elephant, as they are known, reportedly spent the night on the road in Oturkpo, Benue State, after their team bus broke down and attempts to fix it failed. This information came to light on Wednesday.
Speaking with the media, the club’s media representative, Abdullahi Kobi, he refuted the allegations.
“There was no way we could have passed the night on the road because the incident happened very close to the security checkpoint and it was a minor breakdown of the vehicle because of the bad nature of the road. Before we embarked on any journey, we make sure that our vehicles are properly serviced, but this thing happened and when it did, we were not under any threat because security officials were there.
“The chairman of the club also ensured that we got back on the road, he was able to hire two buses to take us to Uyo and about 30 minutes later our own bus arrived.”
The reports that the players were abandoned, however, disappointed Kobi.
“There is part of the report that hurts us that a call was put across to the chairman and that nothing was done. Such journalism was unprofessional because nobody called us to verify, the call from The PUNCH is the first that we have received to verify the situation. No one else did, instead, they all went to social media that we slept on the road, which wasn’t true. It is sad that there is no control over social media but we want to clarify that the safety of the players is paramount and there was no truth in the reports that they slept in the middle of the road.”
