Bet9ja's billionaire founder Kunle Soname finances flights to bring 66 more Nigerians home from South Africa

Kunle Soname, the founder and chairman of Bet9ja, Nigeria's largest sports betting platform, has financed the return flights of 66 more Nigerians from South Africa as part of his sustained personal initiative to repatriate Nigerian citizens stranded in the country amid deteriorating security conditions and economic hardship, bringing the total number of Nigerians he has personally flown home to several hundred since the programme began.

The repatriation flight was reported by The Guardian Nigeria on June 26, 2026. The latest group of 66 passengers joins previous cohorts flown home by Soname at his personal expense, in an initiative that has operated without government involvement and has drawn widespread public attention and praise across Nigeria's business community and the broader diaspora.

Soname's repatriation initiative responds to a deepening crisis for Nigerian migrants in South Africa, where xenophobic violence, economic discrimination and deteriorating living conditions have left many Nigerians stranded without the financial means to return home. South Africa has experienced periodic surges of violence against foreign nationals, with Nigerians among the most consistently targeted communities given their visible presence in trade, commerce and the informal economy across Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban. Many of those stranded lack the funds to purchase return tickets while simultaneously facing hostility in the communities where they have been living and working.

Soname founded Bet9ja in 2013 through his holding company KC Gaming Networks Limited alongside co-founder Ayo Ojuroye, who serves as CEO. The platform has grown into Nigeria's dominant sports betting brand, with an annual turnover exceeding $750 million and a presence that extends from digital channels to thousands of offline betting centres across the country. The green-and-white Bet9ja logo is one of the most recognisable commercial brands in Nigeria, appearing across viewing centres, street corners, football jerseys and prime-time television. Soname has also built a sports empire that spans Remo Stars FC, which won the Nigerian Premier Football League title in the 2024-25 season under his ownership, the Portuguese second-division club CD Feirense, which he acquired in 2015 to become the first Nigerian to own a European football club, and ValueJet, the domestic airline he founded in 2018.

His decision to finance commercial repatriation flights for stranded Nigerians represents a direct personal intervention in a humanitarian situation that Nigerian government agencies have addressed more slowly and with more limited resources than the scale of the problem demands. The Nigerian high commission in Pretoria and the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission have both acknowledged the crisis facing Nigerian nationals in South Africa, but Soname's initiative has moved faster and with more operational clarity than the official response.

Beyond the South Africa repatriation programme, Soname has maintained a philanthropic profile across youth development through his Beyond Limits Football Academy, which he established as a social intervention initiative to develop young Nigerian football talent. He served as Executive Chairman of Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area in Lagos State from 2003 to 2011 before leaving politics to focus on building Bet9ja, a decision he has described as the defining commercial bet of his career.

The 66 returnees on the latest flight join a growing number of Nigerians who have accepted Soname's offer of a free return ticket rather than continue navigating the risks and hardships of daily life in South Africa. Soname has indicated publicly that the programme will continue for as long as there are Nigerians who need to come home and cannot afford to do so.