There is uneasy calm between the leadership of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) and Abia Warriors Football Club over the recent decision by the former to move the latter’s home ground from Umuahia to Enyimba International Stadium in Aba.
According to the NPFL, the decision to move Abia Warriors’ home matches to Aba is “a result of the poor condition of the playing pitch at the Umuahia Township Stadium.”
Heartland of Owerri will also play their home fixtures at the Enyimba International Stadium in Aba.
Davidson Owumi, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the NPFL said fixtures are to be re-arranged to accommodate hosting of three league games at the Aba Stadium.
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Owumi added that a further inspection of the facilities would be carried out before the weekend to ascertain if there have been improvements from what they were at the time of last assessment.
However, the Chairman of Abia Warriors, John Obuh, has disagreed with the decision to move his club to Aba and assured the teeming fans of the club that their darling team will prosecute its second round matches in Umuahia.
In a statement issued yesterday, the former Flying Eagles coach said Abia Warriors had complied with NPFL’s directives concerning upgrade of the Umuahia Township Stadium playing pitch.
“Actually we have done a lot of work on the pitch since we received the NPFL directives. We have improved on the state of the pitch, and it will be very okay to host matches as soon as the league resumes.
“It is baffling that after we have invested money in putting everything in order at the stadium, before the first stanza of the league could end, the NPFL came up with that directive.
“The annoying aspect of it is that they base their claims on what they read on social media or what the teams said. None of the bosses at the NPFL have visited the stadium to see things themselves.
“It is very disheartening that it is only when teams come to Umuahia and get beaten that they will realize that the pitch is bad. But you hardly hear similar comments from those who got positive results.
“We have the worst astro-turf pitches that teams are using for matches, and no one is looking at that. Everyone is interested in killing the grass pitches”.
Obu, therefore, insisted that the pitch will be put in a better shape before the commencement of the second stanza of the NPFL season.
The NPFL season went on mid-season recess after Matchday 19 on January 20 and will resume this weekend.
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