Wikki FC denies pay rise for coach, players

RUTH DAVID, Bauchi

The administrative secretary of Wikki Tourists FC Bauchi, Alhaji Tijjani Sulaiman, has denied reports in the media which claim the club had offered coach Abdu Maikaba N1.3m monthly salary as well as a pay rise for the players of the club.

Speaking through the media manager of the club, Usman Abbas Shehu, the club administrator said: “Yes coach Abdu Maikaba came and we agreed to improve his monthly salary as an appreciation for his outstanding performance in the just concluded 2014 /2015 League season which placed the team fourth best on Glo Nigerian Professional Football League table”.

According to him, the meeting with Wikki and Maikaba agreed to increase salary of the players based on their categories and the purse of the state government considering the present economic situation, but the management assured that it will pay players even far beyond what LMC approved for the last category of players.

“On behalf of Wikki Tourists and the Ministry of Sports, we disassociate ourselves from the publication that Wikki are offering any specific amount to pay Maikaba or any player,” he said.

He described the publication as ‘unfortunate, baseless, rootless and fabricative using of this strategy as a selling point in advertisement to attract customers by the actor or his agents.’

The Wikki boss said if there was such an official pronouncement the best channel to pass the news to press is the team’s media manager.