Less than one week after Osun State Commissioner for Regional Integration, Mr. Bola Ilori, threatened to attack Ondo State indigenes, thugs from the state have made good the threat.
The thugs, numbering one hundreds, arrived at the Ijebu-Ode stadium, venue of the football match between Ondo State team, Sunshine Stars and the Osun State team in more than 30 buses, vowing to wreck havocs. The match started on a peaceful note with no particular unwholesome incident, as the two teams battled for a semi-final place in the 2017 edition of the FA cup.
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| Mike Famiyesin Blog © |
Trouble, however, started when the Ondo team, who had lost the first leg match a few days earlier in Osogbo by a lone goal, defeated the Osun team by 3-1, thereby qualifying for the next stage on 3-2 aggregate. Speaking with newsmen in Akure, the Ondo State Commissioner for Sports, Mr. Saka Yusuf Ogunleye, said that the thugs mobilized to the Ijebu-Ode stadium determined to unleash terror on the Sunshine Stars team and their supporters.
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| Mike Famiyesin Blog © |
Ogunleye, while condemning the attack, said the Ondo State team exhibited a true spirit of sportsmanship when it lost in the first leg, and wondered why a football match should be turned to an opportunity to unleash terror on peaceful football lovers. The commissioner said the behavior of the Osun State team supporters was very reprehensible and a shame to the game of football. He said: “The match started on a peaceful note. We scored three goals, while they scored one goal. With the result, we were going to qualify for the next stage of the competition, with 3-2 aggregate.
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| Mike Famiyesin Blog © |
“But, just as the referee of the match signaled the end and blew his whistle, thugs of the Osun team invaded the field and inflicted various degrees of injuries on our supporters.
“It took the intervention of the security agencies, especially the army, to rescue our players. But the supporters were not that lucky, as about 20 of them were injured, with two of them critically injured and had to be rushed to the hospital.”
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| Mike Famiyesin Blog © |
He added that those whose cases were critical were still in hospital receiving medical attention as of the time of filing this report. Also speaking, the team manager of Sunshine Stars, Mr. Aborowa Gabriel, expressed sadness over the ugly incident.Gabriel said: “After we rescued our supporters that were injured, we took them to the hospital where they were treated.
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| Mike Famiyesin Blog © |
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| Mike Famiyesin Blog © |
“But, after the president of the nation’s FA, Mr. Amaju Pinnick, called me and said we should not allow the matter to degenerate, I went to the police station, where I met the Special Adviser on Sports to Osun State governor. “I am also aware that it took the intervention of a prominent Oba before the thugs were released. Acts like this have no place in football, and should be condemned by all.”
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| Mike Famiyesin Blog © |
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