The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has reduced Remo Stars’ home ban to five matches following an appeal against sanctions imposed by the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) over crowd disturbances during their fixture against Ikorodu City, Saturday PUNCH reports.
In a statement on Friday after a disciplinary committee meeting held on Tuesday, the federation confirmed that while several financial penalties were upheld, the order requiring Remo Stars to play all remaining home matches away from Ikenne had been reviewed.
The committee found that Remo Stars failed to provide adequate and effective security, noting that after the match played on 14 January, supporters of the club attacked Ikorodu City supporters with dangerous weapons, resulting in injuries and damage to the away team’s bus.
It also ruled that objects were thrown onto the pitch, causing two stoppages, and that the conduct of the supporters was capable of bringing the game into disrepute.
Based on these findings, the committee upheld a N2 million fine for failure to provide adequate and effective security and a further N1 million fine for throwing objects onto the field of play.
An additional N2 million fine was also maintained as compensatory cost for injuries to away supporters and damage to the Ikorodu City team bus.
The venue sanction was revised. The committee ruled, ‘An order that all subsequent home fixtures of Remo Stars FC for the remainder of the 2025/2026 season be played in the Lekan Salami Stadium is hereby reduced to a five-match ban to run concurrently from the date of the sanction’.
The decisions, the federation added, were without prejudice to the club’s right of appeal.
The original penalties were announced by the NPFL on 22 January after incidents during the matchday 20 fixture.
The reduction of the ban has significant implications for Remo Stars’ run-in.
The club has eight home matches remaining this season, with four now set to be played at their Ikenne ground.
They had already begun serving the sanction by hosting their matchday 23 fixture against Kun Khalifat in Ibadan, meaning four additional home games will still be staged in Ibadan following the committee’s decision.
Remo Stars’ next home fixtures against Plateau United, Abia Warriors and Katsina United will be played at the Lekan Salami Stadium in Ibadan, with the clash against Nasarawa United expected to complete the five-match ban around the middle of March.
The Sky Blue Stars are then billed to return to Ikenne for the visit of Kwara United, followed by the South West derby against Shooting Stars, Niger Tornadoes and a final home fixture against Bayelsa United on matchday 37.
The club currently sits 17th on the NPFL table with 27 points, occupying the final relegation position after winning just one of their last seven matches.
