The Interim Management Company, IMC, has shown its readiness to stamp out assault on match officials in the league after handing out heavy sanctions to Bayelsa United on Thursday.
IMC sanctioned the Restoration Boys and one of the club’s supporters following unfortunate events at the end of their matchday 5 tie in Yenagoa.
The sanction followed a review of the official match report of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) MatchDay 5 fixture between Bayelsa United and Doma FC on Wednesday, February 1.
As contained in a statement made by the IMC, Bayelsa United was fined the sum of ₦1million and another ₦500,000 for failure to ensure the restriction of access by unauthorized persons to all restricted areas.
The IMC directed the immediate deduction of three points and three goals from the accumulated points/goals of Bayelsa United, for the assault on a match official and ordered the club to pay a fine of ₦250,000, being compensatory payment to the assaulted Assistant Referee 2, Ojeleye Ebenezer.
In addition, the club has also been ordered to ensure the immediate prosecution of one Mr. Joseph Zidougha (a.k.a One Man Riot) for carrying out the assault on a match official and furnish the Legal and Compliance Department of the NPFL with Verifiable evidence of the prosecution.
Furthermore, Joseph Zidougha has been given a one year ban from all NPFL-related activities.
The Samson Siasia Stadium has also been closed indefinitely to fans, with the IMC directing that the stadium closure shall be in place “until adequate and verifiable security measures including written guarantees to the NPFL to prosecute any person found to create disturbances in the course of your home matches are put in place”.
Meanwhile, the club retains the option within 48 hours in accordance with Rule C26, to accept the decision or choose to appear before a Disciplinary Panel. The fines are to be paid within seven working days.
In a related case, the attention of Elkanemi Warriors’ management was drawn to the state of the playing pitch and security breach investigation.
Reminding the club of an earlier correspondence on an ongoing review of the provisional approval granted it for the El-Kanemi Stadium and advice therein to restrict the use of the stadium to only football activities, the IMC urged the club to prepare to relocate to an alternate ground as recent assessment of the playing pitch shows that the present condition is still far from ideal.
On the alleged security breach in their game against Bendel Insurance on match day five, the IMC informed El-Kanemi that it has commenced investigation into the incident and have ordered subsequent home games to be played strictly under closed doors.
