Our attention has been drawn to a newspaper publication attributed to the media officer of Enyimba FC, Farriel Allaputa who accused technical adviser of Sharks Gbenga Ogunbote of crying foul after the match officials gave Enyimba one point on a platter of gold in the Glo-NPFL week eleven encounter in port harcourt.
Allaputa also said Ogunbote’s comment is also capable of inciting fans to become violent.
The management in a statement signed by the media officer of the club Peter Abaje described Allaputa”s accusation as mind boggling.
“I have heard coaches and even the chairman of Enyimba Felix Anyasi Agwu complain of how they were robbed on the field of play by the men in black in one- off situation But in the case of Sharks Football Club this is the third time out of six games at home this season that the team has scored valid goals that were ruled out.
First it was against sister club Dolphins, where Ibrahim Ajani scored a valid goal that was cancelled by the men in black next was Pyagbara Christian who scored his second of the day against Nasarawa United and the same thing happened and now Enyimba and you expect the coach not to complain about the level of officiating against his team”.
“I must state here that the complains have become necessary because it is gradually becoming the norm against us at home and I believe this not what the league management company bargained with match officials”.Abaje said
Allaputa said two penalties was awarded to sharks fc against El Kanemi warriors, Am sure he is not aware the coach of El Kanemi warriors did not complain about the penalties because they were justified rather he blamed his defenders at the back line for the blunders that led to the penalties.
Enyimba’s media officer should understand that no coach in the local scene or anywhere in the world complains about officiating when his team is beating squarely but they do when match officials make the game difficult for them.
“The least I had expected Allaputa to do was to say thank you to the match officials for disallowing Sharks second goal, giving enyimba an offside goal and a point back to Aba rather than accused a coach for complaining about how his team was robbed of victory”.Abaje said
Followers of the game know that Coach Gbenga Ogunbote is a thorough professional coach who hardly complains about match officials and over the years has been known to be a coach who minds his business and a vanguard of peace and not violence as Allaputa is trying to paint him.
Maybe Enyimba fc takes delight in bias officiating so that the league will continue to produce misfit champions at the end of the season and if that is the scenario sharks fc will not be a party to such system.
For the ugly incident that happened where an Enyimba fan was stabbed after the match we condemn it and on our part we will continue to ask questions as to what led to the incident even though there is the possibility that the visitors instigated the crisis just to slow us down.
And I must commend Farriel Allaputa for at least stating the obvious that the incident took place outside the stadium and once again we state that Sharks supporters and fans will not and cannot carry out such barbaric act on another fan .
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