Nigeria Leagues
Poor officiating: Lagos FA’s Hajji Gafar recommends jail for erring referees, administrators
By Wale Mustapha
Vice Chairman of Lagos State Football Association, Hajji Liameed Gafar has suggested a lasting solutions to end corruption in Nigerian football.
Stakeholders have been expressing worries over poor or biased officiating by match officials which some blamed on inadequate monitoring and weak leadership.
The comments of 36 Lion president was coming on the heels of 17 top referees suspended by the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF for their wrong doings during Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL games.
Hajj Gafar opined that to have a lasting end to the issues that is bedeviling the league, referees must be made to report club administrators who seek favor from them to win matches by way of bribing.
He also suggested that erring match officials and club officials found guilty in such shameful act must be prosecuted and sent to prison, a move he believed would reduce the curve or end it.
“Hopefully soon the Referees Association too would give stern warning to their members, hopefully they will advise their members to report any financial inducement approach by any stakeholder and have that stakeholder reprimanded,” he wrote on whatsapp group, NSM.
“For our football to grow in Nigeria, stakeholders must start going to prison in dozens.”
The call for greater scrutiny and consequences for wrongdoings of match officials underscore the determination to see Nigerian football flourish in the years to come.
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