Heartland Petitions Sunday Dare, Wants NFF To Confirm Club As Aiteo Cup Semi-Finalists

Heartland Petitions Sunday Dare, Wants NFF To Confirm Club As Aiteo Cup Semi-Finalists 

Our Reporter

Heartland FC management has taken its case to the Honourable Sports Minister Sunday Dare in the Aiteo Cup crisis.

The Naze Millionaires in a statement said it wants the Sports Minister to wade in and ensure that she is not unjustly made to go and replay the quarter-final match against Katsina United which had been won and lost on the field of play.

The NFF had after its Abuja meeting last week surprisingly inserted a clause in which it said Heartland and Katsina would be reimbursed with #5 million should they choose to replay, a clause which they have rejected.

The club said the only way the NFF would clear any doubt of foul play is to make an unambiguous statement confirming that Heartland is through to the semi-final while awaiting the quarter-final matches billed for August 20.

“The only way the NFF would reassure us that they are not up to anything sinister is to make it clear that Heartland is through to the semifinal.”

Heartland’s Acting General Manager, Promise Nwachukwu in the release stressed that no club should be given an undue advantage in the Aiteo FA Cup race, especially now that the competition is in its crucial stage, even as the sponsors, fans, stakeholders and the Nigerian football community are watching to see how the oldest cup competition in the country is being organized.

Recall that clubs in the top flight staged a protest owing to the undemocratic manner in which Kwara United was unduly rewarded with a continental ticket at the expense of the winner of the Aiteo Cup.

Heartland is demanding that justice be done stressing that it will be unfair to change the goal post in the course of the game.