Kwara United Football Club was on Sunday evening attacked at the Main-Bowl of the State Stadium in Ilorin by some people who claimed to be members of the indigenous players.
They reportedly rained curses on the management and attacked the General Manager, Bashir Badawiy, other officials and the Supporters Club.
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They also drove the players and officials out of the pitch, destroying some materials and equipment in the process.
The team was billed to play Koller Football Club in a friendly match before departing for Ijebu-Ode for the Governor Dapo Abiodun tournament in preparation for the new season.
Some of the attackers were identified as former players of Kwara United Football Club and other teams in the state.
Speaking on the issue, the Media Officer of the team, Jimoh Bashir, in a statement, described the attackers as miscreants, adding that the issue has political undertones.
“The miscreants had earlier met the Executive Chairman of the Kwara State Sports Commission at the Kwara Football Academy, Mallam Bola Mogaji, who told them to allow the authorities to handle their grievances the normal way, instead of taking laws into their hands.
“They had earlier submitted a letter to that effect and the Commission had commenced an investigation, before the ugly interruption.
“Mallam Mogaji said that the issue will be fully investigated, and anybody found wanting will be brought to book,” the statement added.
But in a telephone chat with Daily Trust, the General Manager of the team, Bashir Badawiy, described the situation as unfortunate.
“This is very unfortunate. They called themselves the Indigenous Players and invaded the pitch this evening, removed the goal post and drove my players away, destroying some materials in the process.
“On Friday, they had locked my secretary in the office and removed our generator, disrupted all our activities for that day.
“Today (Sunday), they came with placards and were chanting “ole”, “ole”.
“I was humiliated and they say they want 90 per cent of indigenous players in the team while the remaining 10 per cent be left for outsiders. How is that possible in a professional team?
“We have 9 registered Ilorin players in the team with others that are not yet registered who are receiving salaries.
“But with what we found out, they were being sponsored to discredit the government as we are now in a political season,” he added.
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