The decision of the Nigeria Football Federation’s Ordinary & Disciplinary Committee to award three points and three goals to Adamawa United has rankled with the management of Kogi United, who have frowned at the ruling and described it as “baffling”.
The case, one of several looked into by the committee which sat at the NFF’s secretariat on Wednesday, left the Lokoja-based club lamenting that the committee did not “conduct exhaustive investigation before passing judgment”.
A top official of the club who pleaded anonymity, stated that the infringements which the club was accused of – encroachment into the field of play – which caused the match official to suspend the game, was not committed by the club’s fans.
This source argued that, due to the sensitivity of the game and, knowing how desperate Adamawa United would be to get the three points at stake which would aid their push for promotion to the elite league to a large extent, they had instructed their fans to maintain peace and refrain from being provoked by the visiting fans.
“It was a big surprise when we saw some fans storm into the pitch at half time. I want to stress that we do not know those fans and, definitely, they were not our fans. The police men on duty did everything within their powers to disperse the unruly crowed and, after they were cleared out, Adamawa players refused to come out to continue the match. The next thing we saw was that they had brought the case to the O&D,” he said.
“This is indeed not a fair judgment and, to tell you that that there is more to it than meets the eye, as I talk you, we have not been passed the ruling by the NFF and the news is all over the place that the match has been awarded to Adamawa United. How did Adamawa get the information? That is to tell you that they know what they are doing. But, we are waiting to get the decision before we know our next line of action,” he source explained
The committee’s secretary, Tunde Aderibigbe, confirmed that the decision had not been sent communicated to the two clubs, as they were still waiting for the general secretary of the NFF to sign the document.
But, an official of Adamawa United, Emmanuel Zira, confirmed that his club has been awarded the three points and three goals. Also, he said, Kogi United officials have also been ordered to replace their damaged camera.
