Duro Ikhazuagbe
After almost six months that the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) has been in the cooler, fresh crisis is brewing over the abridged format that the Interim Management Committee (IMC) has adopted to ensure the new season scheduled to begin in early January ends promptly.
With majority of the 20 clubs in the topflight frowning at the abridged format, as well as the modalities to pick Nigeria’s representatives in the CAF Competitions next year, today’s draw ceremony at the Sandralia Hotel in Abuja
will be the test case on whether the club owners have the liver to carry out their threat not to attend the event.
One of the administrators masquerading as owner of a club fully funded by a state government told THISDAY last night that they will not attend the draw ceremony in Abuja until further clarifications given on the abridged league format.
“Majority of our members (club Owners) will not be in Abuja for the Draw Ceremony. They can go ahead and do whatever that they like. We were in Abuja last week to discuss the abridged League and to come back again on Wednesday to fly again to Abuja, that does not make sense,” observed the ‘club owner’.
He stressed further that the abridged league format was not going to do any good to Nigerian club football. “The Nigerian football ecosystem is wired to fail by the very people saddled with running the league. IMC have taken their decision without considering what the majority of the clubs wanted,” he recalled with anger in his voice.
But the IMC in a media statement on Monday insisted it was going ahead with the draw ceremony. IMC stressed that plans to usher the new NPFL season with glamour. “ The Draw Ceremony is meant to “integrate the clubs to IMC strategic plans and to add value to the NPFL and attract more followership and Corporate Sponsorship.”
Chairman of the IMC, Hon Gbenga Elegbeleye had hinted that at the heart of the plans is the invitation of former International and NPFL players to the event scheduled to hold tomorrow, Wednesday, December 28at Sandralia Hotel in Abuja.
Further to this, the IMC also disclosed through a memo to the 20 clubs that it has secured the approval of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to hold the draw for an abridged format of the season.
