John Egbokhan
17 July 2008
AS the panel instituted by the National Sports Commission to investigate allegations of bribery and corruption in Nigerian football league ended its Lagos sitting on Tuesday, a renowned football administrator and match commissioner, Austin Akosa fears that the exercise might end in futility, the same fate that befell other such ventures.
A day after a retired referee, Ahmed Odeyemi, stirred the hornet's nest, when he recounted how Insurance of Benin and Gabros of Nnewi, induced him with cash incentives in order for him to allow them secure much needed wins, Akosa, said the problem being probed will remain as long as the calibre and integrity of match commissioners cannot be vouched for.
"We are probing allegations of bribery and corruption in the Nigerian football league because we feel that referees were being induced to throw matches away in the favour of the highest bidders but this issue would not have even come to the fore if the match commissioners appointed for such games were above board", Akosa said during a conversation with reporters yesterday at the National Stadium.
The renowned CAF instructor adds that "one crucial factor which must not be lost on us is that the integrity and calibre of persons appointed to commission matches must always be of impeccable standard, so that even when the referee is influenced, he would controvert the match's outcome in his report.
"If we appoint men of high integrity match commissioners, incidents of bribery and corruption in our league would reduce drastically.
I just cannot imagine myself accepting monetary inducement to throw a match in a team's favour because of the kind of person that I am and that informs why the NFA and NFL should be mindful of the kind of person they appoint to commission matches because such persons are the last hope of fair play", added Akosa, a former NFA board member.
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