Rivers United FC has declared Albert Korvah Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) after the player absconded from the club’s camp.
A statement by the General Manager of the club, Dr. Okey Kpalukwu said that Korvah is still a player of the Pride of Rivers and has a running contract with the club.
Kpalukwu, who decried the reports that the Liberian player terminated his contract with the club, noted that such a letter of termination is not acceptable to Rivers United F.C because it was not duly signed by Mr. Korvah nor established substantiated infractions on contractual terms and that both parties did not also mutually agree.
The General Manager equally revealed that Rivers United will seek redress at the appropriate quarters, adding that the player has no right to singlehandedly terminate a contract without seeking resolution from the appropriate body.
Kpalukwu said: “Albert Korvah is not expected to formulate an unendorsed letter to a club that is paying him for over a season without complaint and wondered why he chose to do that now. The letter is not signed by him and is not acceptable to Rivers United. He is still our player, and his salaries have been paid up to date.
Mr. Albert Korvah has since then left the camp of Rivers United FC without official permission abandoning his services to the club, which informed the club to declare him AWOL. He absconded from his duty as his contract was still subsisting.
“If the player feels his contractual terms are not kept, the player will go to Court of Arbitration for resolution and if Rivers United also feels that the player has not kept to his terms of contract, the only thing we can do is to sanction within our limit of club rules and regulations binding us either by suspension or any kind of sanctions as stipulated in our regulatory provisions but we cannot arbitrarily terminate.
“Both parties have no right to singlehandedly terminate a contract without seeking for resolution at the appropriate quarters. Korvah has no right, and there are no terms in the contract that we have not kept to.
“Since he has shown intention to leave the club, Rivers United has offered him the opportunity of mutual termination as specified on the contractual terms if he wants to leave. We offered him that condition, which is mutual termination, but he refused to adhere. Instead, he wrote a letter that was not signed, unofficial, unacceptable to the club.
“The letter is unfounded, baseless, not in conformity with procedures, and thus not acceptable to Rivers United FC. No party arrogates itself with such authority at will to terminate the contract with lies and flimsy excuses.