Why We Suspended 14 Referees From NPFL – NFF

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has suspended 14 referees from the 2023-2024 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) season over poor officiating.

This was contained in a letter sent by the NFF’s Referees Development Committee/Unit to Davidson Owumi, the Chief Operating Officer of the NPFL.

The referees on suspension are Bawa Buhari, Chukwuka Jahlove, Akinwale Tomiwa, Saeed Abdulaziz, Jimmy Aimugbonrie, Brown Ebenezer, and Atuwho Morrison.

The other four match officials are Sunday Azi, Imamu Maliki, and the match officials involved in the matchday six match between Sunshine Stars and Abia Warriors.

The NFF’s refereeing development unit also requested video recordings of the games in which these NPFL match officials performed poorly.
They reportedly performed poorly in three Niger Tornadoes games and two Sporting Lagos games.

The matches between Sunshine Stars and Abia Warriors and Sporting Lagos’ away loss 2-1 to Kwara United on matchday six are also parts of the games in which the referees performed poorly.

The other games are Remo Stars vs. Bendel Insurance on matchday seven and Gombe United vs. Plateau United on matchday five.

A letter from the NFF’s refereeing development unit reads: “We write to convey to you and the entire Board and Management of the Nigeria Professional Football League, the warm sporting regards of the NFF Referees’ Development Committiee members.

“Sir, the sequel to the perceived poor performance of the referee/assistant referees in the under-listed NPFL matches, we are obliged to step down the specifically affected match officials in the line of the decision in such instant cases until the appropriate technical evaluation of such decisions are determined to be either right or wrong.

“Furthermore, the committee would very much appreciate if the full video of these matches were provided to the committee for proper evaluation of decisions and performances of these officials.”