MFM urges NFF to throw out Ifeanyi Ubah’s appeal

NIGERIA Professional Football League side, Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries (MFM FC) has urged the Disciplinary Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to follow the rules guiding the game as they sit on Thursday (today) in Abuja decide on the status of their match against Ifeanyi Ubah.

The Olukoya Boys were awarded all three points and three goals after their opponent, FC Ifeanyi Ubah failed to turn up for their NPFL Matchday 20 fixture clash on May 19, 2021.

The match which was billed for the Nnamdi Azikwe Stadium in Enugu was supposed to kick off by 2pm, but a no-show by the host meant that all three points were awarded to the Lagos-based team.

Speaking in Lagos during an NNL game involving Vandrezzer FC and Osun United at the Agege Stadium on Wednesday, MFM FC Director of Football, Davidson Adejuwon said he had confirmation from the Chief Operating Officer, LMC, Salisu Abubakar that the match will be played in Enugu before his team embarked on the journey, adding that only Ifeanyi Ubah team was absent while all match officials were on ground to perform the walk-over formalities.

“Surprisingly we got to Enugu and that Sunday morning we got report that they did not turn up for pre-match meeting. Immediately I called the leadership of the LMC to give them the situation report. The pre-match meeting is going on, no single representative of Ifeanyi Ubah here and we already have intelligent report that they might not show up.

“So, I protested and complained officially and I was assured that I shouldn’t worry that the match is in Enugu by 2 pm, that we should go ahead. They went further to ask about the officials and that is where this issue of “they are not aware” is funny.

“All the officials including the assessor, match commissioner, all referees were all at Enugu. The Enugu State FA were on ground to carry out their functions. So it was just only Ifeanyi Ubah team that was absent and we wondered what happened. Assuming it was a security issue or any other thing might be understandable. For them to say they are not aware is funny. We were told to go ahead that the rules will be applied and that is what LMC has done. Recalled that the verdict of LMC to banish Ifeanyi Ubah was for two home matches and they had actually honoured the first one against Jigawa which was played at Enugu.

“Now that they have appealed, it is their right because the rule also allows such. If they are convinced they have a genuine ground to appeal, it is their right. But I doubt the appeal will succeed because the rule says if you do not have a convincing reason not to honour your match, then you forfeit your points. It is only when there are genuine cases which people can see, that they may want to consider you for reschedule match and you pay penalty to cover the expenses of the other team. But in this case, there is nothing Ifeanyi Ubah would tell that is justifiable.

“To that extent, I expect that the NFF disciplinary Committee will also look into the facts, look into the rules and the evidences abound. I don’t think they would do otherwise from what LMC has done,” Adejuwon said.