The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), which has scheduled the second matchday of the final half of the season, has reaffirmed its commitment to upholding all of the Framework and Rules’ provisions.
Following a meeting of Heads of Departments on Thursday, Davidson Owumi, the Chief Operating Officer of NPFL, announced this and tasked the Secretariat personnel with being extra watchful.
According to Owumi, the purpose of the demand for increased monitoring is to make sure that unethical behavior does not compromise the integrity of the league’s administration.
“We have entered the home stretch of the season after crossing the halfway line and our experience over the years is that this is when desperation sets in for the clubs.
“There will be desperation to try to win the title or a continental ticket just as others will throw in everything to escape relegation.
“Our responsibility is to be vigilant in monitoring everyone including Match Officials, players, Club Officials and those who would scheme to compromise the game,” remarked Owumi, who has had over 20 years in League and Club administration.
The NPFL Chief went on, “I am inviting every stakeholder to work with us to ensure that we improved on last season’s gains to deliver another credible competition,” in his concluding remarks.
“Our Referees, Match Commissioners, Club leaders, players, fans and also our Judicial bodies should all make contributions to ensure that we can at the end say we are proud of our efforts”.
He promised to “enforce the rules to the best extent of our understanding” and gave all the clubs his word that they would always be treated fairly.
Additionally, Owumi praised the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for its up to this point support of the NPFL by upholding the majority of disciplinary decisions and refusing to cave in to political forces that operate behind closed doors and have a tendency to negatively impact league management.
Except for the encounter in Ikenne between Remo Stars and Rivers United, the defending champions, in the CAF Confederation Cup group stage, Matchday 21 is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
Leave a comment