SportsNPFL: Kwara United’s Appeal For Justice

NPFL: Kwara United’s Appeal For Justice

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On Wednesday, July 21 at the Kaduna Stadium, in a Week 34 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) fixture between Jigawa Golden Stars and Rivers United FC, the Golden Stars forward Lala Abdullahi scored twice, in the third and 58th minutes to ensure the 2-1 defeat of Rivers United as the League calendar approached an end and the race for top place finishes heated up.

It was an unfortunate away loss for the men from the Niger Delta as the precious three points deficit played a huge role against them when the league wrapped up after the matches of Week 38. Rivers United finished 6th on 63 points, with only three points separating them from second place and a chance to play continental football next season.

Therefore, when they realised that at their match against Golden Stars, the Jigawa club had featured an ineligible player, according to the statutes of the competition, they promptly filed an official petition with the League Management Company (LMC) to challenge the loss they suffered in that match and seek immediate redress.

Glo

The petition filed by Rivers United held that the Golden Stars had played Christopher Richard, a defensive midfielder, at that 2-1 match loss to Jigawa in the Week 34 NPFL fixture. They believe that this was a contravention of the regulations as the Golden Stars had been previously informed by the LMC ahead of the tie that Richard was not eligible to feature due to the five yellow cards already accumulated in his name.

What the Rivers United FC sought from their petition was an application of the LMC guidelines for the league which state clearly that: “if it is established that, a team intentionally featured a player who had earlier received five (5) yellow cards or red card before the match in question, the affected team will lose three points, three goals to its opponent.”

After filing the petition, Boma Iyaye, the Rivers Commissioner for Sports, was hopeful that the LMC was going to see that Rivers United get justice as the guidelines stipulate especially with its avowed objective to restore the confidence of domestic clubs, administrators and football fans in their management of the NPFL.

The Rivers State official remarked: “This is a straightforward issue that requires no long stories. The LMC is well aware of the case in question and even wrote to the club, informing them of the player’s ineligibility, but Jigawa still went ahead and used him. We do not want to believe that the LMC will allow its image to be rubbished over a matter that is so easy to judge and sanction.”

The case was handed over to the Disciplinary Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to address for a resolution. At a meeting held on Thursday, August 5, and attended by Committee Vice Chairman, Prof. Olufemi Adegbesan, and members Damon N. Dashe, Esq., Chike Onyeacho, Esq., Adamu Sani Osmond, Esq., Kelvin Omuojine, Esq. (Member) and Committee Secretary Queen W. Otarakpo, Esq., the evidence was examined.

Based on their investigation, they were able to establish that the player, Richard Christopher of Jigawa Golden Stars had actually accumulated five Yellow Cards and was suspended for that fixture by virtue of C2 of the NPFL Rules. As Rivers United alluded to exactly in their petition, this suspension was duly communicated to the Jigawa football club by the LMC in an email to the club on July 19 and the club chairman was copied.

However, some discrepancy in the exact club email that this suspension notification was sent to due to inconsistencies in the official email for the Jigawa club, whose letterhead bears jgoldenstars@yahoo.com but who have used jgwgstars@gmail.com in their licensing agreement, Golden Stars tried to excuse themselves from receiving the notification.

The two sides agreed that the LMC did not live up to its responsibilities in terms of the manner in which the correspondence was handled, yet the Committee stuck to the provisions of the guidelines, especially C5 of the NPFL Rules. Therefore, it decided that a player who is suspended stands suspended whether or not a notification to that effect was sent to the player or his club as notifications are simply for the purpose of clearing perceived discrepancies not to validate suspensions.

The Committee also made the point that it was the responsibility of each club to keep accurate records of their players especially in terms of eligibility and other aspects of their participation in the NPFL. They stressed that this onus cannot be placed on a club’s opponent to notify the club or raise the issue that its player is suspended nor was it the place of the opposing team to protest the ineligibility of one team’s player or the other.

For these, the Committee having established the culpability of Golden Stars in fielding an ineligible player in breach of C5 of the NPFL Rules, declared the penalty as the forfeiture of three points from Jigawa and the allocation of three goals to Rivers United FC.

The decision was tough on Jigawa Golden Stars but the team was already in the red line of the relegation zone, out of the top division and could not have been saved either way. But, as a decision that was meant to give the case a sense of closure, it was not the end of the issue as it appeared after the decisions of the Disciplinary Committee became public. What followed was as unexpected as it threatens to become something much bigger than could have been foreseen by the clubs involved, the NPFL, the LMC and those following the developments as they break.

It comes from the domestic side that finished third in the league at the end of the 2020/2021 season: Kwara United Football Club. Out of the 38 games played, Kwara United won 19, drew eight and lost 11 to finish on 65 points. In the course of the season, they scored 48 goals in all, while conceding 28 for a goal difference of 20. They ended the season a point away from second-placed People’s Elephant of Aba, Enyimba International FC. Having fought valiantly all season, the third place finish qualified them for continental glory next season.

However, all that effort and persistence were on the verge of collapsing all around them by the simple decision of the Disciplinary Committee to award three points to Rivers United. That action brought Rivers United up to a 66-point tally, which shot them up from their sixth position in the final standings to second and, by implication, effected the drop of Kwara United to fourth, and out of continental competitions as a direct consequence.

It was no surprise therefore when Kwara United’s first reaction to the decision was negative; they filed an Appeal. Not content with simply feeling hard done by an action for which they had no hand in, the Kwara club issued a statement that clearly communicated their dissatisfaction with the turn of events, their displeasure with the ruling of the Disciplinary Committee while questioning the one-sided attendance of the Committee, as well as the headship of the Appeal Committee as a whole.

Kumbi Titiloye, the Chairman of Kwara United FC, took a suspicious angle when claiming that there is a sense of unfairness in the overall tone of the affair as he pointed out that things appear setup against them since the Chairman of the Appeals Committee, Barrister Eddy Mark was an employee of Rivers State government, and may prejudice the outcome to turn out exactly as benefits the other party. He also branded the current Appeals Committee as illegal as a proper Appeals Committee will have to be duly constituted by the newly inaugurated board of the NFF.

Yet, the most consequential part of the Kwara United grouse is their threat to pursue their case as far as it can possibly go, even if it means going all the way to the international arbiter and final adjudicator of all things sports-related, the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS). Titiloye made this unprecedented threat when he said: “Kwara United FC rejects this decision in its entirety and will put NFF on notice immediately before proceeding to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).”

That might not be necessary since, in response to their challenge, the NFF at its extraordinary General Assembly in Benin City last Sunday ordered a review of the judgement to ensure justice to all concerned and also enable the federation choose the right candidates to represent Nigeria in CAF competitions next season in a fair and appropriate manner.

The NFF added, “Given the importance of forwarding to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) the names of Nigeria’s four representatives in the next CAF Club competitions, the committee ordered that the NFF Appeals Committee must meet immediately to dispense with the appeal lodged by Jigawa Golden Stars FC and Kwara United FC against the decision of the NFF Disciplinary Committee at its sitting of August 5, which favoured Rivers United FC.”

It will be interesting to follow the development of the Appeal given the suspicions of the Kwara Club chairman even before the case is considered, on the one hand, and the Rivers State links of the Appeals chairman Barrister Mark. The barrister may have to recuse himself in much the same way as the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee, Musa Amadu, Esq., did at the initial hearing to avoid potential conflict of interest and to ensure impartiality.

About the Author

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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

Jude Obafemi, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

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