The League Management Company (LMC), managers of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), has been declared an illegal body by the Federal Government, and henceforth, would no longer be recognized as the operator of the NPFL.
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| Emblem of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) |
Ismaila Abubakar, the Permanent Secretary of the Nigeria’s Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, in a statement on Friday in Abuja, said, LMC would no longer be recognized as the official manager of the NPFL.
Therefore, it asked the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to withdraw the licence given to the LMC with immediate effect and create an Interim Management Committee (IMC), with the inclusion of the current Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the LMC to oversee the affairs of the league.
The IMC will take control of the League until an appropriate Professional League Board is set up in accordance with the NFF statutes.
According to the statement: “This decision has become necessary because of the obvious aberration (which is at variance with our football statutes or the laws of the land) whereby a private company is gifted the mandate to manage or run the league indefinitely, without the full involvement of and leadership by the clubs, and devoid of any process to monitor the progress and development of the game.
“Sequel to the above, and in order to rescue our domestic football from total collapse, the Board of the LMC and the LMC as a body would no longer be recognised by the Federal Government as operator of the Nigerian Professional Football League.
“To avert further chaos in our domestic football, the NFF is advised to immediately withdraw the licence given to the LMC and, in the meantime, set up an Interim Management Committee (IMC), to include the current Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the LMC to oversee the affairs of the league until a proper Professional League Board is constituted in accordance with the statutes of the NFF.”
