The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Sports Development to Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State, Vincent Akinbami, has said that the increasing rate of hooliganism in the Nigerian football league is worrying.
Akinbami told newsmen last Monday that drastic action was needed against cases of hooliganism at match venues as well as referees and other officials involved.
“It is high time the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and all the league management boards started taking drastic action against hooliganism and bad referees to avoid killing the league.
“If this is not done, we may well be on the way to killing our football, in spite of the immense efforts put into developing it at all levels,” he said.
Akinbami stated that it was time Nigerians started to take a dispassionate look at the league competitions across the country to determine whether they were getting better or deteriorating.
“There are so many indices for us to do this: whether what we have is commensurate with what we should have, given the talents and resources, or whether what we have can compare with what other countries have.”
Akinbami said it was worrying that hooliganism was now becoming something of a norm, with club officials, referees, players and their fans getting away with criminal acts.
He appealed to the NFF, the League Management Company (LMC), Nigeria National League (NNL), Nationwide League One (NLO) and Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) not to shy away from applying the measures.
“It is important to apply the stick, no matter whose ox is gored, and in order to ensure we stemed the tide of what we are having now.
“A lot has happened in recent weeks this season, and in order not to allow things degenerate, we must start to apply the laws as they should.”
Akinbami pointed at Sunday’s incident in Ado-Ekiti, where he alleged that Osun United FC of Osogbo was robbed of at least a point and also had their players and officials attacked.