Monday, January 25, 2010

No Sacred Cows For NPL Elections – Rafua

Chairman of Nigeria Premier League (NPL) electoral panel, Tony Rafua, has said that there are no sacred cows in the forthcoming NPL elections.
Rafua, who is also the team manager of Gateway of Abeokuta, revealed that everything is in place for the elections and nobody will force the panel to change what the congress of the league body has ratified.
“From day one I have always maintained that we want to conduct an election that will be envy of all and that will also be a reference point in years to come.
“FIFA through the Nigeria Football Federation stipulated what is required before elections are conducted.
“That is exactly what we followed in setting up the guidelines for the election.
“We are dealing with Premier League clubs and not States. There are 20 Premier League club sides in the country.
“The guideline says you must be nominated by a Premier League side in your state before another club can endorse you from the zone.
“This particular guideline was debated and ratified by the Congress. Nobody raised eyebrow at the Congress.
“Suddenly they have realized that they cannot be part of the election because there is no club in their states to nominate them.
“We cannot bend the rules to favour anybody. Because if we do, other people will also complain and the election will certainly not be credible.
“We have given all the candidates an enabling environment to contest in the elections as long as they meet the requirements as stipulated in the guidelines.
“We are determined to conduct an election that will usher in another board for the Nigeria Premier League.
“The Congress of NPL has given us a duty to perform and we are going to do just that,”Rafua said.
The election comes up March 3 and 4, 2010.
From Chime Agu

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