Julius Ubido, a former Captain of Heartland FC has gone down on his knees pleading with the Naze Millionaires to pay him his outstanding N7.45m entitlement that accrued during his 13-year service to the two-time CAF Champions League losing finalists, Completesports.com can exclusively report.
The midfielder who spent thirteen seasons with club which he later captained for four years, exclusively told Completesports.com that the money would be of immense help to him in his current ‘trying moment’ following the death of his 83-year-old mother, late Mrs Anna Ubido who passed on on Sunday, 30th January, 2022.
Ubido, 37, revealed that adores Heartland FC, hence has held back the urge to drag the five-time Nigerian top flight league champions to the League Management Company, LMC, or the Industrial Court.
Ubido joined Heartland in 2007 and was eased out at the close of the 2018/2019 campaign. He later took his career to his home state team, Warri Wolves.
Giving a breakdown of how the struggling NPFL side owed him N7.45m, Ubido discloses that Heartland owed him three months salary amounting to N2.2m and N5.25m sign-on fees.
“I’ve held back promptings by my legal advisers to push this matter through the Industrial Court or the LMC”, Ubido told Completesports.com in an emotion ladden tone on Tuesday.
“This is borne out of my love for the club. It is a club after my heart and I hold them in very high esteem. This accounted for the reason I played and served the club with all my heart for 13 seasons.
“Even when they pushed me out in a most embarrassing and disrespectful manner despite my long and humble service to them, I did not lose my cool and never went to ‘war’ with them.
“But at the moment, I’m in dire need of money at least, to bury my late mother, Mrs Anna Ubido, who died on Sunday January 30, 2022 at the age of 83. I’ve tried to reach the General Manager, Promise Nwachukwu, but his phone was switched off each time I tried.”
Ubido added: “So, I had to call the Secretary, Sam Anozie, who saw reasons with me and promised to convey my plea to the club’s management. This is a difficult moment for me and I hope they respond positively”.
Heartland are passing through their most torrid moments in domestic and international scenes with just seven points out of a possible 27 in the ongoing 2012/2022 NPFL season.
They are 19th in the table, just a point above bottom of the table placed MFM. Yet the three-time domestic cup winners risks six points deduction if they fail to show evidence of settling their players’ contractual entitlements within 14 days.
As if that was not enough, LMC have threatened to throw them out of the NPFL, down to the second tier league, Nigeria National League, (NNL).
