All Eyes On Elegbeleye, Owumi As Nigerians Await NPFL Verdict On Shooting Stars
By Akeem Busari
Following the francas from the Matchday 32 of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) fixture between Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) of Ibadan and Ikorodu City on Sunday at the Lekan Salami Stadium, football lovers believes justice would be served, after a proper investigation so as to curb further occurrence of such incidents.
Violence of any sort should not be found anywhere around the Nigeria Football League scene. Hence, the NPFL board led by Honourable Gbenga Elegbeleye and Davidson Owumi must follow the rule book and sanction the erring club.
After the barren draw between 3SC and Ikorodu City on Sunday in Ibadan, it’s no longer news that the home fans attacked the Fifa badged female referee and other match officials as well as the away team fans.
Disturbing videos and pictures of the ugly incidents flooded the Internet with the Oga Boys fans sustaining various kinds of injury, and their bus was damaged during the assault from the Oluyole Warriors fans moments after the final whistle.
Ikorodu City players and officials were trapped in darkness inside the dressing room for about 80 minutes due to the destructive attack on their fans, going on inside the Lekan Salami Stadium.
According to Ikorodu City media and communication manager Samuel Bamisebi, it took the special intervention of military personnel to rescue his team.
“It was a special adviser to the Oyo state governor who brought some military escort to the stadium. And I think they fired a few shots to disperse the crowd in and around the stadium before they could escort the team and the match officials outside the stadium.
”Previously the NPFL board under the leadership of Elegbeleye and Owumi has handled similar cases of fans violence and crowd trouble involving teams like Plateau United, Nasarawa United and others with sanctions like points deduction, fines and banishment to neutral match venues meted out to them.”
To deter a recurrence of the sad incidents in Ibadan on Sunday evening, the League body must carry out proper investigation and impose the necessary sanctions on the erring club for damaging the image of the league through violence and this will serve as a warning note to other clubs.
