Controversy, Threats Trail Mbaoma Al Ittihad Contract

Controversy, Threats Trail Mbaoma Al Ittihad Contract

By Niyi Busari

One football player agency, Kama Bang Enterprise Limited alleged of being sidelined claiming being the one that brought Al Ittihad deal to former Enyimba FC striker, Chijioke Mbaoma, BSNSports.com.ng can report.

The 21-year-old emerge 2023/24 NPFL highest goal scorer with 17 goals having 2 goals separating him from Remo Stars striker, Sikiru Alimi who scored 15.

Following outstanding performance in Nigeria, the prolific striker reportedly signed a two-year contract with the Tripoli-based club, Al Ittihad.

Confirming the deal, in a statement released on club's official Instagram account, the Al Ittihad praised Nigeria’s reputation for producing top strikers. The post read: “Nigeria has always been known as a goldmine for strikers who have left an indelible mark on the world of football. “From there, we brought in their league’s top scorer and best player as well — Chijioke Mbaoma has arrived in Tripoli.”

However, independent investigation showed that the player allegedly collaborated with some representatives (sidelining those who brought the contract to the table) to complete the deal in a manner Mr Sengue Bang is ready to challenge in court.

How It Started:

After emerging the NPFL highest goal scorer, Chijioke Mbaoma was desperate to continue his professional career in Europe but agents contacted couldn't secure a deal till the transfer window closed. 

Sengue Bang, CEO of Kama Bang Enterprises Limited was contacted, the agent was able to get 16 clubs including Al Ittihad interested in the player. Al Ittihad were the only club with the highest bid and without wasting time, Bang swung into action.

Before Ittihad deal, Sengue was able to get in touch with Sporting Director of different clubs from Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. However, the interested Egyptian clubs wanted him to come for trials before signing him off. This irritated the player and asked Sengue to go ahead with the Libyan deal.

 This led Bang to getting in touch with Al Ittihad after which details of the contract, contact of officials of the club were sent to Mbaoma 

Speaking with www.bsnsports.com.ng, infuriated Sengue Bang vowed to take legal means to get all that due to him and his company.

"I have made up my mind before they introduced Chijioke Mbaoma to me, that, I won't have anything doing with African players again. But after so much pleading that, he is a good striker capable of attracting good deal, I changed my mind to give it a try.

"Dr. Ikenna Obi who claimed to be the representative of the football academy in Nigeria and at the same time the agent of the player was empowered by Ozurumba Chuks (President of football academy) to seal the deal without my knowledge even when I have the mandate with me. 

"The problem started after I drafted the commission of all parties involved. Ikenna Obi and Anthony Chuks Ozurumba disagreed with me on the sharing formula, while they went behind the door to seal the deal.

While I don't want the career of the player to be in jeopardy, I will want them to have a rethink and do the right thing because if they don't, my next step which includes taking legal means nay retire the player from playing football and may also affect the image of all patties involved in the act.

He continued, "Going through the document (Memorandum of Understanding) Ozurumba Chuks signed with Enyimba FC on 22nd September, 2022, he presented himself as agent and manager of Chijioke. The agency he claimed he has was not mentioned in the said MoU.

"Meanwhile, he presented himself as the President of the academy and Dr Ikenna Obi of Premier League Agency in UK as the official intermidiary during the Libya deal.

 When contacted after the deal has been sealed, Ozurumba Chuks denied Bang's claims of being the brain the Al Ittihad deal. 

He said, "Mr Bang was not the one who brought the contract to us. Though I called my intermidiary (Dr Ikenna Obi) to give him a ten-day mandate. Chijioke Mbaoma played his last NPFL game on 23rd of June in Aba, since then we have been in contact with many clubs indicating interest in the player. The Libyan deal has been on since first week of June but I didn't accept it because we hope to secure a deal for him in Europe. But we couldn't secure any before the transfer window closed. A former player and agent, Mr Festus was the one who brought and brokered the deal.

Speaking, Festus Aideagben, former player and an agent admitted knowing Bang but corroborated Ozurumba that Bang knew nothing about the deal.

He said, "I am the one that brought and completed the deal of Chijioke Mbaoma to Al Ittihad. I have two other agents who helped in facilitating the deal, agent Wesam (an Arab who lives in UK) and Walid Khalifa, the Director of Sports of Al Ittihad. These are the two people I used to facilitate the deal. I have told Bang that he should forget about claiming that he was the one who brought the deal to the table. The Libyan club are not stupid not to know who to deal with. They dealt with me who brokered the deal."