The board of Nigeria National League ( NNL) has handed a fine of N1million to Jigawa Golden Stars for failure to provide adequate security in their Match Day 13 game against Sporting Supreme in Dutse.
It would be recalled that the centre referee in that match, Zaharadeen Nasiru of Katsina State and one of his assistants, Usman Auwalu from Borno State were expelled from further handling matches in the country’s domestic leagues because of their poor officiating in the encounter which tend to bring the game of football to disrepute.
In a video that went viral, the centre referee was shown to have allowed a goal scored with hand and also went ahead to award a questionable penalty which allowed Jigawa Golden Stars run away with a 2-1 victory .
According to a statement by the League board made available to the media, the decision to penalize the team was to bring sanity to the second tier league noting that investigation it carried out revealed that inadequate security contributed to the referees’ unprofessional conduct in the game.
“The decision to place a fine of N1million on Jigawa Golden Stars is to ensure that the sanity we’ve brought to the league is not rubbished or compromised as well as serve as a lesson to other teams that are planning to bring the game to disrepute.
“We believe that if there was adequate security at the match venue, the referees wouldn’t have acted the way they did and we will not fail to sanction any team that tries to use unprofessional means to win their matches,” the NNL stated.
