Plateau united Football club condemns physical assault on it’s players, officials by supporters of Heartland of Owerri 

By Golok Nanmwa ,Jos 

Management of Nigeria Professional Football League Champions, Plateau Utd FC Jos has condemned in strong terms, the physical assault meted out to its players and officials by supporters of Heartland of Owerri after their Week 18 fixture which ended in a 1-1 draw at the Dan Anyiam Stadium Monday. 

In a strongly worded statement by the Media Officer of the club,  Albert Dakup, he stated that the action of some of the Heartland FC supporters did not come as a surprise in view of the earlier threat made by them before the game even kicked off.

Dakup, who described the action as highly condemnable, explained that the action of the supporters negates all basic rule of human existence in the 21st century. 

While lamenting the inhuman and barbaric manner the centre referee, Mr Yusuf Garba was manhandled by the disgruntled supporters, he noted that if such trend is not properly checkmated and erring parties properly sanctioned by the League Management Company (LMC),  such unacceptable acts will continue unabated and will always bring the game to disrepute.

He disclosed that while these shameful acts were being perpetrated, the management of Heartland FC and the Imo State Football Association did nothing to protect the match officials, especially the centre referee,  who was beaten to a pulp with various dangerous objects. 

The statement further revealed that while the match officials were attacked, management of Heartland FC did little or nothing to protect the players and management of Plateau United who were been chased around the field by the home supporters. 

Apart from the injury inflicted on Peter Eneji, the team’s (Plateau United) cameraman,  Jonah Dadyiam and Dan Kakwi were also assaulted. His camera was also damaged and a sum of  250,000 naira (two hundred and fifty thousand naira, meant for feeding for some of the team’s officials also got missing in the process. 

The Team manager, Abel Iliya was not spared from the attack as he was chased around by the angry supporters of the home side and subsequently lost his Samsung Galaxy X7 mobile phone in the process before he was rescued by some management of Plateau United and some security operatives who were mobilised to the stadium. 

As if that was not enough, Head Coach, Kennedy Boboye, who was  attacked by the hoodlums at the stadium, was also waylaid and attacked for the second time on his way to Port-Harcourt by suspected Heartland fans who apparently were angry with the draw. Boboye had to be rushed to the hospital before he was revived. 

It is interesting to note that no single person from the management of Heartland FC or the Imo State FA came to see Plateau United at the team’s hotel to sympathize with them over the barbaric acts meted on the team.

If not for the timely intervention of an Assistant Commissioner of Police who led a team of his men to Plateau United’s hotel, the team would have been attacked by these hoodlums masquerading as supporters.

The management of Plateau United Football Club is therefore using this medium to appeal to the League Management Company to invoke the relevant section of its framework on Heartland in order to serve as a deterrent to others while those arrested should be made to face the full wrath of the law. 

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Plateau united Football club condemns physical assault on it’s players, officials by supporters of Heartland of Owerri