Hottestgistnaija.com
No fewer than 150 members of the Nigerian Football Supporters Club are stranded in Sao Paolo, Brazil.
This follows the insistence of the airline scheduled to airlift them home that each of them must pay an additional $300 as fees for rescheduling their flight.
The President General of the Club, Dr. Rafiu Ladipo, while fuming over the latest development on Thursday night at his Caster Hotel in Sao Bento, Sao Paolo, Brazil, blamed the committee set up by the NFSC on flight for the Brazil World Cup over the improper agreement entered into with the Ethiopian Airlines.
Ladipo said: “This has never happened before.
“We usually leave the ticket open so that whenever we are ready to return home, after any competition, we do not find it difficult.
“How can we still remain in Brazil when we have no business here anymore?
“The initial return schedule was 29th June and 1st July but because proper arrangement and agreement was not reached between the committee and the Ethiopian Airlines, we are being asked to pay an additional $300 each if we must be airlifted on the 6th, which we had anticipated we are leaving.”
Ladipo however added that the airline gave two options of either airlifting members of the Club on the 6th, with the additional $300 each, or wait till on the 10th and 11th of July to get airlifted.
He said: “I sent an sms to the Ethiopian Airlines and till this moment I have not gotten a reply.
“The text reads: ‘Is it good for you (Ethiopian Airlines) to dump us here without proper feedback? We have been patronising you but you are tossing us. Is it fair?’”
Our Correspondent reliably gathered that the Acting Chairman of the Club, Prince Vincent Okumagba, and the Secretary General, Rev. Sam Ikpea, left for Nigeria to solicit for funds as over 60 per cent of persons stranded in Sao Paolo are instrumentalists who are financially constrained.
However, aggrieved members of the Club have condemned the departure of the Acting national Chairman and the Secretary General alleging that they are playing politics with the return of members.
A member, who gave his name as Oluwole, said: “Politics is responsible for the situation faced by members.
“Is it proper for the two chairmanship aspirants to travel with the first flight and leave us behind?
“Anyway, Ladipo is still around because I suspect they want to abandon us here.”
