The Nigeria Premier League Board has ordered the management of Sharks of Port Harcourt to pay N3 million as fine for the ugly incident that occurred last weekend in which players and officials of Ocean Boys Football Club were allegedly attacked by suspected fans of the home team inside the Dressing Room at the Sharks Stadium in Port Harcourt, leaving them with various degrees of injuries and forcing the match to be called off.
In addition, all medical expenses incurred by Ocean Boys FC shall be settled by Sharks FC in accordance with Article 4.3(1) and 4.3(2) of the 2011/2012 NPL rules and regulations.
Also fined to the tune of N2 million each for related offences are Wikki Tourists of Bauchi and Gombe United Football Club.
Wikki was fined for encroachment on the pitch in the Week 22 league match against Enugu Rangers at the Tafawa Balewa Stadium in Bauchi.
This is in accordance with article 3.3(2) of the 2011/2012 NPL Rules and Regulations.
Wikki is to further pay N100,000 for failing to submit the recorded tape of the match and N200,000 each to the Rangers’ official and two officiating officials that were allegedly beaten up.
The fines must be paid on or before the club’s next home league match.
The axe of the league board also descended on Gombe United Football Club with a fine of N2 million following the attack on Shooting Stars’ players by Gombe fans at the Patani Stadium in their Week 22 match.
This payment must be effected on or before the club’s next home match (Week 25 slated for May 9, 2012).
All the affected clubs are expected to tender the receipts obtained from the NPL Secretariat for the payment of all the fines during the pre-match meetings in their next home league fixtures.
Meanwhile, Sharks, Wikki Tourists and Gombe United are to play their subsequent home fixtures behind closed doors pending the determination of their cases by the Disciplinary Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation.
Furthermore, one Mr. Ezekiel Kankai, who claims to be the Stadium Manager of Samson Siasia Stadium in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, has been suspended indefinitely from all NPL-organised activities for attacking a Dolphins’ player during a league match in Yenagoa and, subsequently, going to harass the match officials in their hotel after the match, deflated the tyres and broke the head lamps of the match commissioner’s car and made away with the uniform of the Assistant Referee II.
The NPL also requested the Bayelsa State Football Association to, as a matter of urgency, arrest and prosecute the said Kankai as was the case with the culprit in a related incident in Enugu during a league match between Heartland FC of Owerri and Enyimba International of Aba.
These preliminary decisions were taken pending the determination of the cases by the Disciplinary Committee of the NFF.