16 September 2008
Lagos — Nigerians have been assured of adequate security at all venues of the Globacom Premier League, which kicked off with matches last Saturday and Sunday across the country. Felix Owolabi, a former Nigerian international and Chairman of the League Board technical committee gave this assurance at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta during the opening ceremony of the season and noted that perceptions of insecurity at venues were fed by prejudiced reports.
He said that the Nigeria Premier League Board has made adequate plans with the Nigerian Police and the Nigeria Civil Defence Corps on the safety of lives and property of teams, officials and fans at all match venues.
Owolabi, however, noted that the safety concerns at league venues have been exaggerated and pointed out that few isolated incidences have been high-lighted beyond proportion.
"Football is a game of passion and all over the world; fans are known to have been occasionally carried away by that passion to conduct themselves in ways that are not rational. Nigeria is no exception but we have had a situation where people who don't even get one mile close to the stadium spread reports of violence at our match grounds and it is not right," said the Shooting Stars of Ibadan former winger.
He also likened the picture of violence being painted of Nigerian league match venues to that of the image of Nigeria in most European countries and argued that for the misconduct of a few, the nation is being labeled a drug destination.
"It is possible that out of the over 130million Nigerians, less than 0.1 percent are into drug crimes and yet it has brought shame to us all. We are not all drug pushers and so also should no one condemn all 380 games of our league as violence ridden just because of a few incidences."
Owolabi argued that compared with Europe which most commentators have praised, "the situation in Nigeria is safer because we have not had fans killing a policeman as was the case in Italy neither are fans destroying pubs as has been the cases in England, Germany, and Holland etc. The threat of hooliganism has been very rife in Europe that now we have phrases like English hooligans, Italian hooligans, Dutch and German hooligans who have been profiled and records circulated."
The NPL member commended Nigerian journalists for the coverage of the league and urged them to continue with such objective reporting that will not only promote football in the country, but also sustain the domestic players.
"The Nigerian journalists have been very dutiful in promoting the league although there are a few who don't watch matches but stay in their offices to conjure pictures of insecurity, poor officiating bad pitches and all that is negative," said Owolabi known as Owo-blow during his playing years.
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