The reigning
queen of tracks, Blessing Okagbare has called out GoodHouse, one of the groups
handling the presidential campaign for President Jonathan for using her image
to run an advertorial on various electronic media without her consent.
One of the YouTube
videos expressively had the Commonwealth Games gold medalist in action. The video detailed the achievements of
President Jonathan especially around the railway system.
Okagbare who
confirmed her displeasure over the development via Twitter from her base
in Los Angeles, USA, on Thursday said that her attention was drawn to the
advertorial by friends and relatives in Nigeria about two months ago
She said, “I
just wanted to be patient at first, but my agent is not happy because he thinks
I am a woman and very far from home too.
“Someone out
there is using my image, footage and everything I have worked for to make money
through advert and campaign without seeking my approval. If an advert is being
made with my footage and I am not aware of it, it shows how some of my
countrymen back home can be so selfish, disrespecting and have no regard for
people’s privacy.”
Okagbare was
quoted two years ago during the All Nigerian Open Championship in Calabar
lamenting that the Federal Government of Nigeria was not doing enough to
support her athletics career saying that the only support she got was from
Delta State government.
Okagbare
added in statement sent by her agent “Now, I am here struggling on my own to
pay my coach, nutritionist, doctor and others to make sure I am in good shape
for the All African Games and the IAAF World Championship in Beijing, China,
later in the year, and some people back home are using my image and footage for
presidential campaign advertorial without seeking for my approval.
“This is
fraudulent because I am totally not in support of it. We called the people
(GoodHouse Nigeria) and they denied using my image and footage for PDP
presidential advertorial. Who did it then? Why are they lying?”
The star athlete
stated that she was condemning the act because those involved were not doing
the right thing whether for sports or business.
“It is not
about financial support. It is about me and what I represent’’ she said.
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