Globacom, one of Nigeria’s leading mobile service providers sponsored the country’s top flight football league untill 2010, and had challenged the propriety of awarding the sponsorship rights to another rival telecommunications firm.
Abiodun Adesanya, counsel to Globacom, filed the discontinuance notice pursuant to Order 50 Rule 2 (1) of the FHC Civil Procedure Rules, 2009.
The company said it was withdrawing the suit following the intervention of well-meaning Nigerians on the matter.
It added that the League was already suffering untold hardship as a result of the suit, stressing that some matches were postponed because of it.
“The withdrawal of the suit was also in the interest of sports development in the country,’’ the counsel added.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the discontinuance notice.
Globacom had gone to court claiming the NPL had refused to strictly adhere to the principle of due process in the award of the sponsorship right.
The plaintiff also alleged that there were major discrepancies in the entire bidding process. The plaintiff had sought an order of injunction restraining the NPL from awarding the title sponsorship of the Premier League to MTN.
Joined in the suit were the Nigerian Football Association (NFA) and the National Sport Commission (NSC).
SIMEON OGOEGBULEM in Abuja, Nigeria
