Plateau United have been ducked three points and three goals for physical assault on Match Officials by fans who breached security at the end of their MatchDay 17 fixture against Remo Stars at the New Jos Township Stadium last Sunday.
The visitors won 2-1 coming from a goal down as a result of which Plateau United had 25 points, plus six-goal difference and in fifth place.
Plateau were not in contention for the Super 6 in this season’s Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), being five points off the top 3 in Group A with one match to end the group stage. They were not threatened by relegation either.
If the decision is upheld by the disciplinary committee of the Nigeria Football Federation, which is the appellate authority, the Jos side will have 22 points and plus three goals difference. They will also drop from fifth to sixth, replaced by Shooting Stars in their former position.
According to the statement the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the NPFL, in addition to the points and goals deduction from their total accrued, Plateau United were also ordered to pay ₦2.5m as sanctions for other breaches arising from the incident.
In a separate development, an official of Kwara United, Mr. Bashir Badawi has been invited to face a panel of inquiry during which he is expected to provide evidence to back his allegations questioning the integrity of the IMC.
Badawi is to appear for the hearing on 18th May at the IMC office in Abuja in line with Rule C15.
In the letter of invitation, the Kwara United General Manager was referred to provisions of Rule C1.1 which requires “club officials to act in the best interest of the game at all times, and not act (whether through words, conducts or behaviour) in a manner capable of bringing the game into disrepute”.
Reference was also made to Rule C9 which states that “clubs are required to control their players and officials and ensure their proper conduct at all times”. Badawi was said to have made the said disparaging comments in a WhatsApp Group
In the Summary Jurisdiction notice Plateau United were charged for “breach of Rules B13.18, B13.52 and C11 which variously were for encroachment on the field of play by supporters to harass match officials, failure to ensure adequate and effective matchday security and assault on match mfficials in the course of the MatchDay 17 fixture”.
For failure to provide adequate matchday security, Plateau United were fined ₦1 million, and another ₦500,000 for failure to prevent access by unauthorised persons to restricted areas.
For assault on match officials, three points and three goals were ordered deducted from the accumulated points and goals of Plateau United, while the club is to pay ₦1 million in total as compensation to the four match officials at ₦250,000 per official.
The New Jos Township Stadium has also been ordered closed indefinitely to Plateau United fans until adequate and verifiable security measures, including written guarantees to the NPFL to prosecute any person found to create disturbances in the course of their home matches are put in place.
The club has also been directed to identify and prosecute the supporters that assaulted the match officials. The assaulted match officials were the centre referee, Amadi Promise; Assistant Referee I, Sani Mohammed; Assistant Referee II, Abdulganiyu Abdulmalik; and the reserve referee, Abubakar Zubairu.
The club has 48 hours from the date of the notice in line with Rule C26 to either submit to the Summary Jurisdiction and sanctions or elect to appear before a disciplinary hearing.
The fines are to be paid within seven working days.
