The board of the Nigeria National League on Thursday announced that the failure of some of the clubs to meet up with the registration formalities has resulted in the postponement in the resumption of its 2014/15 season earlier slated for this weekend. The Chairman of the board, Chief Emeka Inyama, who made the disclosure during a press briefing in Abuja, revealed that the board has already approved a two weeks shift in the kickoff date to enable the clubs fulfill their obligations to the NNL.
Inyama, who doubles as the Chairman of the Marketing Sub-Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation, further revealed that 13 out of the 32 NNL clubs grouped to play in the eight-team abridged league this season were yet to comply with the mandatory N800,000 registration fees, adding that a sizeable number of clubs are also yet to return their forms.
Lamenting further, he wondered how the league will kickoff without the clubs which he said are owners of league, warning however that at the expiration of the two
weeks shift in the kick off date, the board would be left with no other choice than to seek the permission of the NFF to start with only those clubs that comply with the requirement as well as to delist those clubs that failed to register.
Inyama said: “The Secretariat of the National League has done everything and we are ready to start this weekend as earlier planned.
“But a day or two to the kick off date, we have serious constrains which arise from the fact that about 13 clubs are yet to cone forward for registration.
“Many who collected firms have not returned them and some only paid about 20 per cent of the registration fee.
“There is no how we can start the league with only 20 clubs into four groups of eight teams each.
“We have looked at the number and realized that if we go ahead, the league will become messed up.
“After consultations with members of the board and based on appeals from the clubs who are mainly government sponsored ,we have decided shift the date for another two weeks.”
Inyama listed some of the erring clubs to include ABS FC, Mighty Jets, Ranch Bees, Kaduna United FC, Nembe City, Atiba United, Ekiti United and FRSC.
He lamented that they are yet to register for the season.