Kogi FA bans club, 8 officials for beating referee

The Kogi state Football Association has banned Kabawa United and eight of its officials for two years, from all football related activities, for acts of hooliganism.

Fans of the club were alleged to have beaten the Centre Referee, Haruna Shaibu, to a state of coma, during the final match between Kogi United Feeders and Kabawa United in Lokoja.

The Association, in a statement signed by its Secretary, Austin Ogunmola, and made available to newsmen on Thursday, in Lokoja also slammed a N200,000 fine on the team.

Ogunmola said the ban was part of decisions reached at an emergency meeting of the Association held on Monday, October 18, on the role of the team in the fracas that led to the disruption of the final match.

He said that the fine was for the encroachment of the field and manhandling of the match officials by the team’s supporters, thereby bringing the game of football into disrepute.

The FA had condemned in the strongest term, the acts of hooliganism and unsportsmanlike behaviour of a section of the fans of the club during the final match, according to Ogunmola.

Ogunmola noted that some individuals, who should know better, were seen aiding and abetting the fans to riot in spite of the presence of invited dignitaries from within and outside the state.

He gave the names of the indicted officials of the Kabawa United as: Baba Ali, aka Tolotolo; Abubakar Mohammed; Team Manager, aka Yaba and Mohammed Mohammed, aka Hon. Alhaji

Others are Danlami Wode (Kanna); Umar Jana (pepper); Das Onuh; Maikudi I. Abdullahi (Figo) and Makanta.

The Secretary also hinted that as part of the punitive measures, “Kabawa United FC, should pay for the items damaged during the fracas.”

The items, according to him, includes stadium seats removed and broken, N150,000; missing Referee’s items and medical bill, N81,500; rented chairs and four match balls, N71,000,″ Ogunmola added.