Police retaliates as fans stone Wikki Tourists, Enyimba players

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 2021/2022 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) match day 19 fixture had left the fans dissatisfied.

Wikki Tourists fans then constituted themselves into a nuisance at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium by throwing stones and other dangerous objects into the pitch immediately the match ended.

The action meant both sets of players, referees and officials of the two teams were confined to the pitch as the situation worsened.

Security personnel then engaged the rampaging fans in a mild battle before releasing teargas canisters in order to drive them away from the stadium.

Afterwards, they evacuated the players and officials out of the pitch to the dressing rooms  for safety.

Some of the Wikki Tourists fans interviewed later by NAN accused the referees of badly officiating the match.

One Aliyu Saleh alleged that the referee did not ensure that the normal 90 minutes of the game ran its full course.

“The Enyimba goalkeeper wasted over seven minutes by always lying down on the pitch, and that means the referee should have given extra minutes for the match, but he refused.

“So, bad officiating of matches is one of the problems facing Nigerian football league,”

Another fan, Shehu Abbass, said: “We don’t trust the referee’s officiating. He sold out the match in favourites of Enyimba.

However, another fan, Abubakar Danjuma, blamed the fans for reacting in such a manner.

“What is the benefit of throwing stones at players and officials of the match?

“With extra time or not, if the match is destined to end in a draw so shall it be. Besides, a match is a game of win or lose,” he said.

All efforts to get any official of both clubs were unsuccessful.