NNL 24:Match Commissioner quenches on field attack rumors Against Sokoto United, calls for league body proper investigation

After the matchday 7 match between Malumfashi FC and Sokoto United at the Abubakar Labo stadium in Malumfashi, Katsina State, the Nigeria National League (NNL) board released a harsh and hurried summary jurisdiction.

In response, match commissioner Ibrahim Garuba from Jigawa State made it clear that he was not aware of any assault or beating of any Sokoto United players or officials during or after the game.

The match commissioner, who was born in Jigawa, State, declared that he has not yet sent the NNL board the whole match report.

"I am just writing the comprehensive report of the match because after the game was abandoned nothing happened", as culled from veteran journalist A. Bolarinwa.

"After observing the normal protocol, the kickoff of the match started exactly 4PM and exactly two minutes of play, jersey number 29 of the away team, Sokoto United scored a goal".

"On the 28th minutes of play, the center referee gave a verbal warning to the away team's goalkeeper for a delay tactics."

Mallam Garuba hinged the situation that fueled the crisis between the two team on time wasting by the Sokoto United team which irritated the fans.

"There was a collision between Malumfashi FC player and that of Sokoto United player around 35th minutes of play and there was an instruction from the referee that the Sokoto United player to be taken off the field after treatment but this didn't go down well with the fans because the treatment continues after the instruction of the referee".

"After the substitution of the injured Sokoto United player then the goalkeeper started another time wasting tactics by faking another injury and all these attributed to the start of the fracas".

Mallam Garuba blamed Sokoto United team manager Umar Mohammed for taunting and verbally harassing Malumfashi FC supporters that were outside the arena which almost aggravated the whole issue.

"I saw Sokoto United team manager verbally assaulting the home team supporters and I instructed the 4th referee official to give him stern warning because his continuous confrontation with the home fans has already started causing trouble for us and for the game."

He said that, there was adequate security before the match was abandoned and no officials was attacked by the fans of both teams.

Mallam Garuba stressed that the match was tensed because the officials of Malumfashi FC felt they were being cheated and they accused the match officials of deliberately wanting to send the team out of the NNL league.

"The police protected us after the break when the fans and officials of Malumfashi started complaining".

"The police protected us by throwing tear gas to dispersed the surging crowd at the entrance of the dressing room".

He opined that the Sokoto United team abandoned the game due to what they termed as insecurity even when the match officials were ready to restart the second half of the match.

"We were inside the field of play and ready to start the second half when the Sokoto United team declined to show up from the second half".

"The referee gave enough time for the match to restart and the match officials pleaded with both sides to continue  the game but the Sokoto United team insisted they will not continue the match and so the referee ended the game and everybody walked back to the dressing room without any issues."

He concluded that nobody was beaten up or assaulted after the game was abandoned and till the very moment the match officials left the stadium.

Meanwhile, the former chairman of Malumfashi FC Alhaji Surajo Umar's name was mistakenly quoted for the new chairman's name Alhaji Mansur Abubakar Labo in the article Number (VII) of the decision of the Summary Jurisdiction which revealed that the Malumfashi Chairman has been Banned from all football related activities for three Months.

According to Surajo Umar Baba who spoke to the press at the late hours of Monday in Katsina town as gathered by Nigeriasoccernet.com;

"I wish to first of all state here that i am not the chairman of Malumfashi FC. I believe it was a mistake from the NNL and I am sure it will be corrected because I seized to be the chairman of Malumfashi immediately I was appointed as the chairman of Katsina United FC in 2023".

"The name of the chairman of Malumfashi FC is Alhaji Mansur Abubakar Labo and he has been the one in charge of the team since I left that capacity. I was surprised when I received a call saying that I have been ban for three months. I just laughed it off when I saw the Summary Jurisdiction and concluded immediately that it was a mistake from the NNL".

"I am respectfully using this medium to inform the NNL to kindly make the necessary corrections in order to clear my name".

The soft spoken stakeholder continued by condemning the attack on the opposition and assured football enthusiasts to work along with security personnel and Malumfashi FC officials in order to bring the miscreants to justice.

By Olaleye Oluwadamilola