Blessing Okagbare
Reigning
African queen of the track, Blessing Okagbare has denounced the use of
her image and footage by a body said to be working for President
Goodluck Jonathan who is also the Peoples Democratic Party presidential
candidate, without seeking her consent.
An advertorial by GoodHouse Nigeria
tagged GEJ Okagbare, which she said had been running on various
electronic media in Nigeria and also on Youtube, the athlete said it was
wrong for anyone to use her image or footage for a presidential
campaign without seeking her approval. The PUNCH verified one
of such videos on YouTube which expressively had the Commonwealth Games
gold medallist in action. The video details achievements made by the
government especially around the Nigerian 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 to The PUNCH,
“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 told our correspondent
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.
Credit: punchng
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