Football
Exclusive: Two-time NPFL winning coach Boboye drags Heartland over unpaid entitlements
Sunshine Stars coach Kennedy Boboye initiates legal action against Heartland FC over unpaid entitlements following his contract termination in 2023.
Image Credits: Premium Times Nigeria
Sunshine Stars head coach Kennedy Boboye has taken legal procedures to receive his entitlements from NPFL club, Heartland after the termination of his contract in 2023.
Boboye is one of the most celebrated coaches in the Nigeria Professional Football League after winning the league title with Plateau United and Akwa United in 2017 and 2021, respectively.
In December 2023, the 50-year-old coach had his contract abruptly terminated by the Imo State Government, led by Governor Hope Uzodinma for no reason and he is now pushing for damages in the breach of his contract.
Boboye told SportsBoom: “Things were going well between me and the Heartland management, I helped the team improve on their position in the league and then the Governor [of Imo State] told the leaders to remove me and reinstate the late former coach, Christian Obi.
“He told them to settle with me but the management including the former Commissioner of Sports at that time were told to step aside which stalled our communications.
I have waited and I’m yet to hear anything from them for over year, that was the reason I told my legal team to take it up.
Kennedy Boboye
Emmanuel Amunike’s Intervention
Boboye has now initiated legal procedures against Heartland FC which could lead to severe punishment for the Naze Millionaires from the Nigeria Professional Football League authorities and the Nigeria Football Federation.
However, Heartland head coach and former Barcelona striker Emmanuel Amunike has opened talks with his aggrieved colleague but it appears his proposal is short of Boboye’s demands.
He continued: “I think the NFF and the league authorities reached out to them recently and that's when their coach, Emmanuel Amuneke called me that I should give the club more time.
“The second discussion came on Thursday when he called me again that they have 5 million they want to pay me now and they will continue to pay me in installments later, but I told him I can't take 5 million, my money is 19 million so if they want to pay, let them start with 10 million then they can spread the balance of 9 million in the coming months.”
Legal Tussle with Heartland
Heartland were relegated last season but luckily got the slot to replace Beyond Limits Football Academy who is owned by the same person who controls Remo Stars.
Amunike’s men have made a poor start to the 2024-25 Nigeria top-flight campaign, and they find themselves in 18th position on the table after bagging just a win from six games.
With the brewing legal case ahead of them, Heartland find themselves in a more precarious situation that could come with huge consequences.
“I don't think the Imo State Government are making any efforts because I don't understand what they are begging me for. I'm not just fighting for damages, it is something disgraceful,” Boboye added.
“You don't just come from nowhere to end a contractual agreement without mutual understanding.
“Before I joined Heartland, the Deputy Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly called me, we negotiated, and we reached an agreement in his house. This governor knows about my contract, and he was the one who brought money to rent my apartment, where I stayed in the state. If they can have money to buy slot to return to the NPFL so what is holding them from paying me my money?”
Issue of Unpaid Salaries & Entitlements in NPFL
Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye and his management team have strategically commenced the rebranding of the Nigeria Professional Football League but the issue of unpaid salaries remains a bane in their developmental strides.
Boboye revealed that Heartland are still owing about six players unpaid wages. In June, world football governing body FIFA lifted a transfer ban on NPFL club Katsina United who failed to pay their former player Mahamadou Souley his entitlements.
“I'm not the only person being owed by Heartland, there are about 6-7 players they need to pay their outstanding money,” he said.
“It is worrisome and it disturbs the credibility of the league because I don't know why you want to have a contract with a player and you don't want to respect it.
If you have any contact and you don't want the person anymore, you simply pay off the person. Honestly, if they paid me like 10 million when they terminated my contract, this issue would not come up. They think they were smarter, I was unveiled and I managed about 7 to 8 matches with the team.
Kennedy Boboye
On Sunshine Stars’ Improved Form in NPFL
Amid the ongoing demands for his money, Boboye has his focus on Sunshine Stars who currently sit fourth in the NPFL table with three wins from six matches.
On Saturday in Ijebu-Ode, the Owena Waves thumped defending champions Enugu Rangers 1-0 as they target qualification ticket to play on the continent at the end of the season.
“We are coming up, I believe if we continue to win our matches, we will get to the position we want for ourselves,” Boboye disclosed.
We are not thinking of just playing in the league, we also want to be on the continent if we are not winning laurels.
Kennedy Boboye
I’m Taiye Taiwo, an experienced sports journalists in Nigeria with focus on Nigeria sports, African sports & athletes and creating SEO contents for betting sites and blogs. I boast of mentions in several international English online platforms and my works have also been translated into French and Turkish.