NNL vows to take action as Insurance players recount Remo fans’ attack

THE Nigeria National League has vowed to bring to book any person or organisation found to have played a part in the violent actions that disrupted the match between Remo Stars and Insurance in Remo on Sunday.

A video circulating on social media shows players of the visiting team Insurance of Benin City being chased around the pitch and out of the field, even past their team bus, by irate people suspected to be fans of the home side, Remo Stars.

The Insurance players are seen scaling the low fence around the pitch as they run for dear life but, tellingly, there are no policemen or any security personnel around to foil the wanton attack.

Afterwards, it emerged that several Insurance players sustained serious injuries after being hit by objects held by the Remo Stars fans.

Apparently, the fans were unhappy with the conduct of the Insurance players whom they accused of gamesmanship as the visitors sought to gain points off their hosts.

The Chief Operating Officer of the NNL, Emmanuel Adesanya, promised that the body would take appropriate action to punish any individual or organisation found culpable in the Remo incident and others in the Nigerian second tier.

“The management will meet to discuss the violence at Remo venue and two other places where there were ugly incidents,” he said.

“The management will meet and deliberate and make a pronouncement.

“We had reports of ugly incidents in the game involving Calabar Rovers and somewhere in the North, and we are looking into them. Any party found guilty will be punished according to the rules and regulations guiding the NNL.

“What we did yesterday (Sunday), as soon as the reports were flying in, was to ask the match officials and commissioners to send in their reports because there were broken heads, smashed noses and vehicles destroyed.

“I told them that it was only their spontaneous and quick reports that would help us to take immediate actions so that it will not be dragged on for too long. But Nigerians can rest assured that the violence will not go unpunished because if it goes unpunished, it will be sending a wrong signal about Nigerians and the league itself. No one is above the law.”

Meanwhile, Insurance players told The Punch how they managed to escape without being killed by the bloodthirsty mob.

“The only thing on our mind was getting to safety after fans encroached the pitch and started chasing us,” defender Benjamin Tanimu, who sustained a head injury, told the newspaper.

“We were chased out of the pitch by the fans and players. I was about to jump a fence when I got hit on the head by a big stone. When we thought we were safe, the fans chased us again until we found ourselves in a farm but I’m happy to be alive after the ordeal.”

Ugly incidents such as the one in Remo are commonplace in the lower leagues in Nigeria as there is hardly any security to prevent a breakout of violence.