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Six Face Trial In Paris For Blackmailing Paul Pogba

Six men linked to Juventus and France midfielder Paul Pogba face trial from Tuesday, accused of blackmail, attempted extorsion of millions of euros and holding the player at gunpoint.

The case at the Paris criminal court has shocked the French football world — all the more so because the perpetrators include three childhood friends and Pogba’s own brother Mathias.

The development comes as Pogba battles professional woes, as Juventus this month cancelled his contract following his suspension until March 2025 for doping.

In total, the group are accused of attempting to squeeze 13 million euros ($13.5 million) out of the player.

Mathias was himself the one to go public in the case, publishing a video on social networks in August 2022 in French, Italian, English and Spanish.

He promised revelations about his younger brother that were “likely to be explosive” while remaining vague about the details.

In a subsequent clip, Mathias accused his younger brother of casting an evil spell on his France teammate Kylian Mbappe.

Paul Pogba’s lawyers and his agent Rafaela Pimenta said in a statement later in August 2022 that the videos “came on top of threats and attempts at extortion as part of a criminal gang” against their client.

He had already filed criminal complaints in Italy and France in July that year.

Pogba told French investigators that he had in March 2022 been “tricked by childhood friends” from the neighbourhood in Roissy-en-Brie outside Paris where he and Mathias grew up.

He accused them of snatching him before he was held at gunpoint by two hooded men with assault rifles, demanding 13 million euros for “services rendered” — blaming the footballer for failing to help them financially since his professional success.

Pogba said at the time that he had paid them only 100,000 euros.

The footballer said he had also been pressured at the France national team’s training centre in Clairefontaine, at one of his homes in Manchester, and at Juventus’ training ground.

Pogba added that he had also paid a bill of more than 57,000 euros that the same friends had racked up at the Adidas store on Paris’ glitzy Champs-Elysees avenue.

Paul Pogba’s lawyer Pierre-Jean Douvier declined to comment ahead of the case when contacted by AFP.

– ‘Like my family’ –
A police overview of the case seen by AFP calls the childhood friends and other acquaintances of Paul Pogba “a criminal team… with the objective of extracting 13 million euros from Paul, who had cut them off financially” early in 2022.

All of the accused deny the allegations, claiming they themselves were victims of the hooded men who held Paul Pogba at gunpoint who have never been identified.

All five face charges of extorsion, kidnapping and forming a criminal gang.

Mathias Pogba, who was not present the night his brother was snatched, is suspected of “pressuring his brother Paul and his family to ensure the payment of the sum of 13 million euros”.

He is charged with attempted extorsion and forming a criminal gang.

Mathias Pogba’s lawyer Mbeko Tabula said he would not comment until the end of the trial.

Mathias claimed months ago that he was only a “puppet” in the extorsion affair, making an emotional appeal to see his brother again.

“I hope our bond will be strengthened again” through a meeting, he said at the time.

The so-called “Pogba affair” has put in the spotlight brotherly ties poisoned by competition and money, but also the difficulty professional footballers can face keeping up friendships with those who knew them before their success.

“Despite everything that’s happened, they’ll always have a place in my heart… they were like my family,” Paul Pogba said in September 2023 after he and the defendants were jointly questioned by investigators.

By AFP

Related Topics:France Juventus Manchester United Paul pogba

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NDDC committed to developing athletes discovered at Niger Delta Sports Festival

A new approach to grassroots sports development will see athletes discovered at the ongoing Niger Delta Sports Festival (NDSF) undergo periodical camping where scientific methods of training would be applied.

Sir Itiako Ikpokpo, the Co-Chairman of the Main Organising Committee (MOC) of the festival, dropped the hint at a media parley with journalists covering the games and said over 60 athletes have already been spotted as at Day 4.

“This festival is not about who came first or who won gold. Our scouts are looking out for hints of potential, quality that can be groomed for future success,” Ikpokpo responded to a question about objectives of the festival.

He said the scouts made up of coaches, former athletes and scouts have so far submitted 64 names and most of them were not those that came first or second.

“We seek to set up camps for the identified athletes with a view to putting them through scientific research-based training supervised by certified coaches,” added Ikpokpo who is the lead consultant for the project.

“The real work is not this festival, it is to design and implement the plan to nurture the talents discovered here to go on and replace those who have been representing Nigeria,” he added.

Sponsored by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as part of its mandate to improve living conditions of people of the nine mandate states, the NDSF had about 3,000 athletes and 500 officials competing in 17 sports.

It began on April 1 and will end on April 8 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

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Niger Delta Sports Festival holds Golf Kitty as Cultural Expo fever spreads in Uyo

Managing Consultant of the Niger Delta Sports Festival, Sir Itiako Ikpokpo, teed off the Golf Kitty organised in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

This is even as the organisers rev up preparations for the Cultural Expo with the stage being rigged and rehearsals commenced.

Held at the Ibom Golf and Country Club on Saturday (April 5) morning, on the sidelines of the sports competitions, the event is part of the community engagement activities of the festival to foster social networking.

Over 130 golfers were in the kitty with members of the Main and Local Organising Committees of the Niger Delta Sports Festival in attendance.

“The NDSF project sponsored by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was designed to achieve multipurpose objectives of discovering and nurturing athletes, foster regional integration and engaging our host community.

“We have also provided opportunity for games demonstration towards bringing them in when the next edition holds. Cricket and Rugby are such games and we will keep redesigning the festival concept to accommodate more sports”, Ikpokpo told journalists at the event.

The festival also incorporated a Cultural Expo that will hold on April 7 and a number of upcoming entertainers from the nine mandate states will be on parade for comedy, music and masters of ceremony.

Edi Lawani, the country’s leading entertainment impresario said the Cultural Expo is a community engagement platform to provide the people of Akwa Ibom State, the festival community and tourists a time to wind down.

“Over 40 artistes will be on parade as we provide music, comedy, dance and food court for everyone in Uyo to feel the sports festival atmosphere outside the competition venues and make new social and business friends”, the thickly Lawani said donning his trademark shorts and backpack.

“Just as the NDSF is poised to discover new talents in sports, the cultural expo of the NDSF is equally designed to give a boost to and uplift young upcoming talents in the creative industry”, Lawani further stated.

Established talents like Comedian Destalker and singer Humblesmith are billed to perform to give inspiration and mentorship to the assembled young talents.

He said emphasis has also been placed on gender inclusiveness as there are female artistes, female Disc Jockeys and a female red-carpet host who are set take their place of pride at the event.

The Expo night which holds at the popular Unity Park also known as the Christmas Village, will enjoy the full complement of exotic show lighting display and large screen format projection.

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Govt Should Give Annual Grants To Nigerian Clubsides – Sanmi Doherty

Stakeholders of Nigerian football opined that governments at all levels should completely hands off sponsorship or ownership of football clubs in Nigeria.

According to some aficionados, the state-owned clubs have not thrived or perform better than privately owned clubs in recent times.

And yet, another strong voice in the fortunes of Nigerian football has joined the fray, albeit from a fresher angle.

Speaking in a recent interview, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ikorodu City Football club, Sanmi Doherty, admonished the federal government to establish a football trust fund that would empower the clubs to operate in line with the global best practices in world football. He added that Nigerian clubs would be able to compete favourably with their counterparts on the continent.

“I think government should only provide the facilities the enabling environment for the clubs. I think we can also have a trust fund fir Nigerian clubs. Tell me, why can’t the federal government earmark certain amounts of money as annual grants to help the clubs playing in the league?

“You know we’re not only promoting football, we’re also empowering the youths and using football to curb restiveness amongst the youths.

” Football is big business and capital intensive. For instance, if I know that I’m going to receive maybe N3billion from the government as my annual allocation, I can conveniently go for the best players, pay them very well, and ensure they get the conducive environment to ply their trades professionally and of course, the desired results will come,” the youthful club owner enthused confidently.