A claim that German coach, Bruno Labbadia, said he rejected the offer to become the new head coach of the Nigeria’s Senior Men football team – Super Eagles – after some Senators and politicians asked him to pay them bribes from his salary has surfaced online.
The claim which was purportedly reported by The Nation newspaper and accompanied by the snapshot of the front page of the newspaper is circulating on Facebook, X and other social media platforms.
“I quit Nigeria job just four days after my appointment. Some senators and politicians threatened to make life miserable for me if I don’t give them 10% of my monthly salary. Corruption in Nigeria system is unbelievable,” the viral quote reads.
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An X user, @SabinaNkiru posted the claim with a caption thus: “I am ashamed”
The post has generated more than 700,000 views, over 5,000 reposts and more than 9,000 likes as of September 3, 2024.
It has also appeared on Facebook page as can be seen here.
CLAIM
German coach, Bruno Labbadia, rejects offer to become Nigeria’s Super Eagles’ head coach after some politicians demanded bribe from him.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE as the quote was not reported by The Nation or any other credible publication.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) had announced Bruno Labbadia as the new head coach of the Super Eagles, stating that he would take up the role immediately. However, the deal collapsed due to “tax dispute”.
Labbadia requested that the NFF cover his tax liabilities in Germany but the federation deemed this request unreasonable and declined to pay the taxes, leading to the collapse of the deal.
“The tax details were never part of our discussions, and he had personally agreed to all terms before the tax issue came up,” said NFF president, Ibrahim Musa Gusau in a statement on social media.
“We were doing our best to be flexible in the discussions but he was adamant that the NFF had to pay the full tax amount as well. We simply cannot do that.”
Checks by The FactCheckHub revealed that The Nation did not report or hint that the coach turned down the national team coaching job because of threats or demands from senators and politicians.
The FactCheckHub reviewed the publication of the platform on August 31 and confirmed that the statement was not quoted anywhere in the report.
The Nation’s report titled “Super Eagles coach: Labbadia turns Nigeria down” stated that there was no commitment or even a signature from the coach, as reported by the NFF before the announcement.
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The FactCheckHub also observed that the website embedded in the viral snapshots is not the nation’s website. The nation’s website address is www.thenationonlineng.net but the link attached to viral snapshots instead has this web address: www.nigerianewspapers.net, a website that republished stories by other various news publications.
A look at the website also led us to a news report republished from Daily Trust. The report is based on the NFF’s X update, stating that Labbadia rejected the job due to the federation’s inability to agree on tax payments.
The FactCheckHub also discovered that the Nation newspaper has distanced itself from the claim.
“READERS BEWARE!
“The quote attributed to the German coach is not part of our cover. It was clearly photoshopped to give the impression it is from us. Readers are advised to be wary of such inventions,” The Nation posted on X.
THE VERDICT
The claim that German coach, Bruno Labbadia, rejected the offer to become Nigeria’s Super Eagles’ head coach after some politicians demanded bribe from him is FALSE; the quote was not reported by The Nation newspaper or any other credible media platform.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
