Sharks secretary Cyril Dum Wite has urged the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) to adhere to their own rules and take decisive action on Ocean Boys in the interest of Nigerian football.
Ocean Boys have failed to honour four matches this season, but the NPL has stalled in invoking the relevant provisions of its statutes to sanction them, and Wite told SuperSport.com that any further delay in doing the right thing may bring the league into disrepute.
“The NPL have been dilly-dallying over the Ocean Boys situation for sometime, even when they have failed to honour matches right there in Yenagoa,” he said.
“Rules are not made for fancy, but to be applied when the need arises, so the NPL leadership or board must invoke Article 4.2 (1) and 4.2(3) of the rules and regulations guiding them, which state clearly that if a team fails to honour two consecutive games then they would be expelled from the league and pay a fine, as well as have all their points deducted from the league standings.
“Ocean Boys have missed four matches and we are yet to see them pay anything; by now we should have been talking about N40 million at least for missing two games.
“Most importantly, they should be thrown out from the league entirely, and not even to the lower division, until such a time they could show evidence that they are financially secure to participate.
“The deteriorating situation has prevailed till the final round of matches, when it would have been in the best interest of all the teams for the NPL to have acted fast to avoid suspicion of manipulation.”
Wite told SuperSport.com that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is duty bound to intervene if the NPL can not put its act together.
“The NFF, which supervises the NPL, must come in to interpret the rules and save the situation,” he said.
“This is because the impression being created is that somebody, somewhere is trying to screw the rules and this isn’t good for the growth of our football.
“It will definitely affect the final placement of teams, but rules are rules.
“A similar situation happened during the last African Nations Cup qualifying rounds that saw points deducted from the bottom teams in each group and powerhouses of the continent such as Cameroon and Nigeria were affected, but Caf applied its rules and made their position clear on time.
“If Caf can take such a decision, then why not the NPL on a club that knew they would play thirty eight games from the onset,” he added.
Wite was quick to point out that his position had nothing to do with what Sharks stood to benefit.
“We don’t stand to lose or gain anything, but it would set a bad precedent, as it could lead to undeserved winners of the title in future,” he said.
“Also, we are being made to prepare for an outstanding fixture against Ocean Boys next week that is likely not be honoured once again.
“It would be a big mockery of what the league stands for should that happen.”
The rescheduled premier league tie between Sharks and Ocean Boys has been fixed for 23rd August.
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