Eight Clubs promotion: NNL acted on the interest of the league -- Gombe Utd Chairman

Eight Clubs promotion: NNL acted on the interest of the league -- Gombe Utd Chairman By Niyi Busari Chairman, Gombe United, Alhaji Usman Hamed, has said that the decision taken on Saturday in Abuja at the 2018 Annual General Assembly of Nigeria National League for the automatic promotion of 8 clubs from the second tier of the league to the NPFL was in the interest of the league and some external circumstances, BSNSports.com.ng reports. Usman who likened NNL decision to how the League Management Company (LMC) and Club Owners ended the 2017/18 NPFL season with fourteen matches to play, insisted that both (LMC and NNL) decisions were taken to promote the round leather game in Nigeria. He added that the NNL took the decision because they cannot be holding LMC to ransom having came up with the 2018/19 fixtures in Asaba on Tuesday. "The NNL Congress took the decision to adopt the proposed promotion of eight NNL clubs to the NPFL based on circumstances, just like circumstances that led to 2017/18 NPFL season to be concluded half way, NNL decision is also borne out of the same circumstances. We unanimously agreed to take the decision and I must commend the management and club owners that took the decision. "We cannot hold LMC to ransom because of one or two matches to be played in our league. "Format that suppose to promote four teams from NNL to the NPFL is based on eight teams play each other in a round-robin league format but because we don't have time and more importantly we cannot hold the LMC who has done fixtures for the 2018/19 NPFL season last Tuesday to ransom, we have to come up with that decision. Also, we cannot just allow the four winners from each abridge league to represent the NNL in the NPFL because the second placed teams also have the same chance of qualifying for NPFL if the Super 8 league is organised," he said.