Bet9ja Boss, Soname May Be Appointed Chairman Ogun State Sports Commission

Governor Abiodun (left) with Mr.Kunle So name at the Governor’s Office in Abeokuta

 

There are strong indications that the owner of Bet9ja, an online bookmaker company in Nigeria, Mr. Kunle Soname, may be appointed to head the new Ogun State Sports Commission.

P.M. EXPRESS reports that setting up of Ogun State Sports Commission is one of the plans of governor of the state, Prince Dapo Abiodun to rejig sports and further develop all sporting activities in the state and the Governor revealed on his Facebook page early on Friday how he received in audience Mr. Soname in his office in Abeokuta on Thursday.

It was Governor Abiodun who broke the news of the plan of bringing Soname on board to head the Sports Commission when it is established.

The Governor wrote: “Yesterday, we hosted a foremost sports enthusiast and financier; and the owner of the largest sport betting company, Bet9ja, Mr. Kunle Soname in my office.

“Mr. Soname has graciously agreed to Chair the Ogun state Sports Commission once the government puts all the enabling law in place. We assured him of our government’s support, adding that  his coming home would inspire other sons and daughters to invest and follow his path.

“As a government, we had challenged Mr. Soname who is a proprietor of a football club in Europe to come home and invest in the state by rebranding and redefining sports in our state as we believed he could also help with the state owned football team that is not really performing well.”

The Governor went ahead to write on Soname’s remarks to his proposal. “In his remark, Mr. Kunle Soname noted that he would partner the state in terms of grassroots development of sports, adding that he would also invite his friends to invest in Ogun State.”

P.M. EXPRESS reports that Soname’s Bet9ja offers betting on major sporting events operating in Nigeria. Traded under KC Gaming Networks Limited and run by a series of shareholders of multiple nationalities, the website is licensed by the Lagos State Lotteries Board (LSLB) with permission to operate in other parts of Nigeria

Soname hails from Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria. He can be classified as one man who loves his root and a proud son of the soil and this is evident from the things he’s done and ways he has invested so much in his home town Remo, Ogun State.

He was into politics and was elected as the Executive Chairman of Ikosi-isheri Local Council, Lagos State between October 2003 – October 2011.  He graduated from Lagos State University (LASU).

In 2015 Bet9ja became the official sponsor of the Nigeria Women’s Football League after a memorandum was signed between the two parties. He made ex super Eagles star player Victor Ikpeba the brand ambassador to Bet9ja.

Soname became first Nigeria national to own a European club when he acquired 70 percent of a second division Portuguese football club side called Clube Desportivo Feirense in 2016 through his company called Tavisstock Global Resource Ltd. He also owns a football club in Nigeria, Remo Stars FC.

Soname’s  Value Jet Airlines, is the major sponsor of the 50km Ultra Race Championship which holds in Sagamu and other towns in Remo land on Saturday, 7 December, 2019.