The Ogun state FA cup defending Champion, All Stars Football Club of Abeokuta have cried foul over their unlawful exclusion from the fixture of the teams that would participate at the 2019 edition of the state FA cup championship.
When contacted on the reason why their name was not included in the fixture being the defending champion, the Chairman of All StarsLawal Waheed replied that their exclusion came to them as a total surprise, but he hower alleged that it was the handiwork of the state FA Chairman, Ganiyu Majekodunmi whom he said has been working so hard to undermine them.
He alleged that the FA had shown absolute disdain towards their club by doing everything within his power to undermine their progress in the state. He wondered why the FA Chairman would chose to single them out for such ill treatment by denying them their right.
Explaining further, Lawal argued that the state Football Association went about the process of stopping their participation by denying them of information regarding the registration process for this year’s FA Cup.
“We were deliberately denied information by the state FA on the registration process for this year’s Federation cup schedule. Letters were sent to proprietors, managers and secretaries of all the clubs informing them about the registration process for this year’s FA Cup schedule. But the letter was not sent to us and I want to challenge them to produce evidence of the copy of the letter sent us if ever they did,”
He also explained the extent the Majekodumi led State FA had gone in trying to humiliate them revealing the fixture released for this year’s FA cup made no reference to their name as the defending champion.
“Just to humiliate us further, the FA also committed an act of impersonation by referring to Remo Stars, (Feeders) as the defending champion of the Ogun state FA cup. You can go and verify this as the fixture is all over the internet,” He also alleged and lamented.
The obviously unhappy Lawal lamented further that their maltreatment in the hand of the Ogun State FA Chairman started last year when as Champions of the state FA cup, they were drawn to play 2018 National FA cup in the 1st round as against the tradition where state champions begin their National Federation cup campaign in the 2ndround while runners-up begin theirs in the 1st round.
“As Champions of Ogun state FA cup we were made to play the National Federation cup from the 1st round while Remo Stars that we defeated in the final took over our place by playing in the 2ndst round. These are part of the injustice we have suffered in the hands of these people and I cannot explain what actually we have done to them,”
Lawal noted that they have resolved to fight against the injustice and are now ready to take their case to the headquarters of the Nigeria Football Federation in Abuja with a view to getting justice,
“We will make our case known to them so as to know the injustice we have been facing in Ogun state. We believe that the NFF president is a man of justice and would definitely look into our case,” he concluded.
The Chairman of Ogun State Football Association Ganiyu Majekodunmi has however denied ever stopping All Stars Football Club from participating in the state’s ongoing Aiteo/NFF Cup. The Nigeria Football Federation Board member also defended leaving the defending Champion out of this year’s edition in a chat with SportingLife yesterday.
“When All Stars Football Club wanted to register last year I did not go to their room to invite them to come and register, but they did so willingly. They registered when they saw the press release from the (Ogun State) FA in the media. That was when they came. Even their First Vice President is a member of Ogun State Football Association. He is the one that registered the club last year and he is still a functioning Vice President. How come will they say that the Ogun State FA should write a letter to them to come and register for this year’s Aiteo/NFF Cup. So we only work with the clubs that duly registered.
This to me has a political undertone because I did not write personally to any club to come and register for the competition. I just made a press release to inform the public that FA Cup is going on. I can’t come to their house to tell them to come and register. Yes the All Stars Football Club emerged Champions last year while Remo Stars Football Club Feeders Team was first runner up but Remo Stars FC Feeders Team came to register while All Stars did not”, Majekodunmi disclosed.