Vanguard
19 November 2008
The heavy hammer may soon fall on the Ebonyi State Police Command after it failed to turn up at the on-going Inspector General of Police Cup, despite confirming its interest to participate in the inaugural edition of the soccer tournament, designed for serving officers and non-league players.
Disclosing this yesterday, Spokesman of Management Committee of the competition, Austin Mgbolu, said the Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro might visit his wrath on the Ebonyi Command for boycotting its matches.
"The Force sports secretary may raise a query to the Command for no-show at their venue in Calabar. It appears that the I.G is not taking this issue lightly because he expected all teams to feature at their respective zonal preliminaries", said Mgbolu, a former Image Maker of the Nigeria Football Association.
Rivers qualified to represent the zone in the knock-out rounds as Akwa Ibom emerged best losers.
In other results, Kogi has qualified to represent Zone 8 after beating Kwara 1-0 and holding Ekiti to a goalless draw, to emerge the best side from the zonal preliminaries.
And in Zone 10, Kebbi has emerged tops after beating Sokoto 2-0.Meanwhile, draws for the next round of the competition are expected to hold on November 21 in Lagos. This comes after zonal preliminaries decided across the country at the weekend.
Mgbolu added that matches of the round of 16 are to hold on November 25 while quarterfinal matches hold November 28, just as the semifinal matches are to take place in Port Harcourt and Abeokuta on December 1 and 2, respectively.
The grand finale, which is expected to attract Okiro and top government and police dignitaries, is scheduled to unfold on December 6 in the ancient and thriving city of Kano.
In a related development, the Management Committee of the I.G Cup has commended the Assistant Inspector General Zone 5 Command, Suleiman Fakai and members of the Command for the flawless organisation that culminated in the flag-off of the competition in Benin City, at the weekend.
Both Okiro and Governor Adams Oshiomhole, watched the opening match of the competition between Edo and Delta State, with the homers winning 3-0, to stake their claim to the Cup, when the final comes up in Kano. The Cup was donated by Mike Itemuagbor, who is the boss of Padmozi, marketers of the Nigeria Football Federation.
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