Hooliganism: Nasarawa Govt Accepts to Pay Nasarawa United FC Fines

The Nasarawa State government has accepted to pay all fines awarded against Nasarawa United FC by the League Management Company (LMC) following a violent attack on match officials and others at the Lafia Township stadium recently.

The state commissioner for youths and sports development,, Uthman Bala-Adams, told journalists on Saturday in Lafia, the state capital, describing the scenario as unfortunate.

THISDAY gathered that on Wednesday, November 20, a Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) 2019/2020 match day 4 fixture between Nasarawa United and Plateau United at the Lafia Township stadium ended in violence.

It was further revealed that some fans had attacked the match commissioner, center referee, assistant referees among others during the encounter, blaming the violence on poor officiating.

The LMC, administrators of the NPFL in a reaction to the unfortunate development via the NPFL official website ‘npfl.ng’ took disciplinary actions against the club and alongside those perceived to have instigated the violence or promoted it.

Consequently, the LMC fined the club, ordered its home matches be played behind closed doors and banned the curator, Aliyu Hamzat who allegedly led the attack on the match officials for life.

The LMC also suspended a Nasarawa United player, Seun Komolafe, for one year for inciting the club supporters to commit violence against match officials.

This was even as the LMC cautioned the media officer of the club, Eche Moses, for unfairly criticizing match officials which was capable of bringing the league to disrepute.

Nevertheless, the commissioner, who acknowledged receipt of the disciplinary steps taken against the club, said the state government has fully accepted the punishment for the unruly behavior of fans and some officials of the club hence promising to ensure that the unfortunate incident never repeats itself again.