The suspended Team Manager of Sunshine Stars, Gabriel Aborowa, has described the indefinite suspension slammed on him by the Nigeria Premier League in the aftermath of the disrupted match against Kwara United in Ilorin at the weekend as callous.
Aborowa said he is sad the NPL acted on a biased report of the match commissioner without investigating the circumstance that led to his entering the pitch, asking: “Would the NPL have been happier if the irate Kwara United fans had killed me?”
He added: “I am certainly going to protest this decision. I believe the match commissioner was biased in his report, possible because he is handicapped, he didn’t see what led to my entering the pitch.
“The rules says if there is any hostility against the opposing team or the match officials, they should run to the centre of the field for protection and that was what I did after the fans pounced on me.
“I am happy the video clips were shown on television and people saw that even the policemen could not stop the irate fans from attacking Sunshine Stars.
“The NPL used the so called punishment to drag Sunshine Stars into the ugly incident because of their desperation to paint us bad in the eyes of the Nigerian public.”
The team manager lamented that some people, because of their hatred for certain officials of Sunshine Stars, are desperate to drag the name of the state in the mud, arguing that as an away team, how could they disrupt a game they were almost running away with a point.
He added: “How can an away team disrupt a game? We were leveled on 1-1 with Kwara United with few minutes remaining to play.
“Will it be to our gain if we abandoned the match? Was it our fans that entered the pitch and started beating the referees and our players?
“Where have I gone wrong in an attempt to protect myself from being killed? I will certainly protect this unjust suspension.”
It is recalled that Aborowa was given an indefinite suspension while Sunshine Stars were fined of N2 million by the NPL for encroachment during the match in accordance with Article 4.3(2) of the 2011/2012 NPL Rules and Regulations.