Plans to pay the debt of N3.8 million to affected referees of the Nigeria Referees Association (NRA) on Thursday by the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) failed to take place due to the absence of the referees’ body leadership.
After the NRA and the NPL is said to have agreed that the payment N3.8 million for fines imposed by the Premier League on clubs for assaulting matches referees at their home grounds.
But as at noon on Thursday, two NPL executive board members, Abdulrasaq Owolabi Wopa and Joe Amene, were ready to meet the NRA president and secretary, Ahmed Maude and Sunday Audu respectively.
However, the NRA chiefs did not show up at the meeting where the N3.8 million was expected to have been handed over to them for part of the debt owed some of the assaulted referees.
After waiting for more than an hour, the NPL Acting Secretary, Tunji Babalola, got a telephone call that put an end to the gathering that had a number of journalists and affected referees present at the Premier League secretariat in Abuja.
The referees present at the gathering expressed unhappiness with the way the event turned out and blamed their body for the delay in getting their money.
But Maude exonerated himself saying he got the invitation late and asked the NRA scribe, Audu, to be present at the meeting.
“I got the invitation late and I asked my secretary to go there. I couldn’t come because we are meeting the NFF (Nigeria Football Federation),” said Maude to SuperSport.com.
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