Globacom have denied claims by the Nigeria Football Federation that they have defaulted in the payment of their sponsorship fees for the year, and have threatened legal action against the Glass House.

On Sunday, Idris Adama, the NFF’s Head of Marketing, told Tidesports’ source that the telecommunications company, who sponsor all the national teams to the tune of N150 million, were eleven months behind in their payment for 2009.

But Omodele Sarafa-Yusuf, the company’s Head of Sponsored Assets, described the statement as ‘a cheap lie calculated at diminishing Globacom’s investment in the nation’s football.’

Sarafa-Yusuf, in a statement on Tuesday, said: “Globacom has adhered strictly to the payment terms as specified in Clause 4.1-2 on page 4 of the contract signed in 2004.

“We urge the NFF to carefully study the letters of the section under reference. The clause stipulates that the 90 per cent cash component of the rights fee be paid in two installments at six months interval.”

The statement also reminded the NFF that in adherence to this clause and in response to the NFF demand letter of April 23, 2009, Globacom had through a letter dated May 8, 2009, paid N80 million to the Federation, representing over 50 per cent of the total sponsorship fee remitted through an Equitorial Trust Bank (ETB) cheque Number 00364518.

Furthermore, the company asked the NFF not only to retract the statement, but also to ‘caution the erring officer for the embarrassment caused the company’.

The company went on to catalogue what it described as ‘deliberate and consistent serial breaches of its rights to brand the National Teams’ training jerseys, exclusive branding of ball boys and escorts during National Teams’ matches and sector exclusivity by the federation and its agents’.

The statement said while these breaches have been brought to the attention of successive boards of the NFF since 2006, “we have not received any joy by way of actions to remedy the violations. Instead, agents of rival brands have been encouraged to ambush our rights even when we have fulfilled all obligations to the federation”.

“Globacom is the single highest financial corporate supporter of football at all levels in Nigeria since 2003 with over N6 billion committed to the development of the National teams and the Nigeria Premier League. We therefore find the recent statement from an NFF official to be in bad taste and a calculated falsehood aimed at diminishing our years of investment in football.”

The statement added that the company ‘may seek redress in court if the federation fails to retract the statement.’