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Before the start of the 2023 NPFL season, NFF president Ibrahim Gusau had warned that 'it would no longer be 'business as usual'.
The Interim Management Committee (IMC), the body which oversees the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), reacted quickly to the attack on an assistant referee at the Samson Siasia Stadium in Yenegoa by ordering Bayelsa United to forfeit three points and three goals.
The punishment comes after a review of the official match report from the Match Day 5 NPFL fixture between Bayelsa United and Doma United on Wednesday, February 1.
Separately, the IMC have mandated an indefinite closure of the El Kanemi Stadium in Maiduguri after it conducted an inquiry into claims of security breaches during El Kanemi Warriors' midweek encounter against Bendel Insurance.
Case Bayelsa United vs Doma United
In the memo conveying Bayelsa United sanctions, the club was charged for breaches of Rule B8:21, C11 and B13:52.
The club was fined N1 million for failing to deny access to unauthorised persons to all prohibited areas and, an additional N500,000 for breaching Rule B8:21 by failing to ensure proper protection for match officials during and after the match.
The IMC also directed the 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.
Additionally, Bayelsa United are to ensure that a certain Mr. Joseph Zidougha (also known as One Man Riot) is immediately prosecuted for the assault on the match official.
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While Zidougha is being banned for a year from all NPFL-related activities, fans are also barred from the Samson Siasia Stadium indifinately "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".
Case El Kanemi Warriors vs Bendel Insurance
In the case of El-Kanemi Warriors, the attention of the club management was drawn to the state of the playing pitch and the security breach investigation.
The IMC urged the club to get ready to move to a different location as a recent assessment of the playing pitch shows that the current condition at the El-Kanemi Stadium is still far from ideal.
"You are therefore expected to take more expedient steps to improve the quality of the playing pitch," IMC's memo to the El Kanemi Warriors said.
"You are further advised to notify the league secretariat of your preferred alternate ground in the interim, to act as a safeguard, in the event that you are unable to carryout adequate improvement to the playing pitch of the El-Kanemi Stadium within stipulated time."
In regards to the claimed security breach, the IMC told El-Kanemi that an inquiry into the reports of "your most recent home game" had been started. IMC also added that until the investigation is completed, El Kanemi Warriors will play their future home games strictly behind closed doors.
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