Baribote: Clubs Representatives Can't Be Partakers, Organizers Of The NPFL

Baribote: Clubs Representatives Can't Be Partakers, Organizers Of The NPFL

Alfred Kadiri

Former chairman of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL), Barrister Victor Rumson Baribote has added his voice to the power tussle between the Interim Management Committee (IMC) and NPFL Clubs Representatives, with regards to the new season format, BSNSports.com.ng reports.

The IMC had adopted an Abridged League format for the new season, which has got the green light from the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF), only for the NPFL Clubs Representatives to reject the format, as they insist on boycotting the league.

In a Christmas message to the Football stakeholders in Nigeria, Club Representatives in a statement jointly signed by the Chairman Chief Barr Isaac Danladi and the Executive Secretary Chief Alloy Chukwuemeka described the proposed Abridged League format as a caricature of the NPFL, a League once rated as the best League in Africa. 

Baribote⁩, a former Bayelsa United boss said on Family United By Football (FUBF) a Sports group on WhatsApp: "The NFF regulates football in the country and has mandated a body to organize the league with terms of reference most importantly to have an improved league.

"For me, the IMC were democratic enough to have convened a meeting with the clubs for them to make their input.

"However the IMC reserves the right to digest the input from the clubs and organize the league the way they deem fit to get the desired result because if the IMC fails, the NFF and indeed Nigerians will not hold the clubs responsible but the IMC.

"With all amount of humility and respect to the club Chairmen/ Owners they cannot be partakers and the organizers of the league at the same time. 

"So one club chairman cannot unilaterally decide for the entire State that the state-owned club will not play even the private club owners can’t do that because they have their supporters to consult with 

"I have embarked on both journeys, my advice is that we should respect constituted authority and refrain from unnecessary confrontation with the organizers."