THE Sportbay recorded that in 1996, 14 people, including 11 policewomen footballers died in a ghastly motor accident in Ijebu-Ode, near Lagos, along the Benin-Sagamu expressway after a downpour. Again, In December 2008, 9 female footballers and 2 coaches were burnt to death in a motor accident in Mangu, Plateau State. A year after, in January 2009, 17 players of Adamawa United lost their lives after their bus was involved in a crash in Jos on their way to a league match in Abuja. A month later, precisely on February 20, 2009, a bus conveying players and officials of Zamfara United was also involved in a fatal accident that claimed the lives of a player, Abdullahi Sabiu and the team’s curator, Ado Umar. Another report came in February 2014, Sunshine Stars also suffered an accident which left their team bus in tatters and players psychologically harassed. Then, five Kano Pillars players were injured in a robbery attack that happened while the team was on their way to a game in June 2015. Giwa FC were also attacked by gunmen in Enugu on their way to honour a game against Abia Warriors in Umuahia in 2015. In January 2016, Enyimba were ambushed by heavily armed robbers on their way to Kaduna for the Super 4 tournament. In October 2018, Kwara United’s team bus was involved in a crash during an away trip to their 2018/2019 NPFL season opening game.
In February 2018, Chinedu Udoji of Kano Pillars football club died in a fatal motor accident after involving in a car accident after visiting his former team mates at Enyimba. That year, this tragic accident happened along Club Road in Kano after Udoji had played in Kano’s 1-1 draw with his former side Enyimba. Fast forward to March 2020: two Nigerian footballers, Ifeanyi George and Emmanuel Ogbu were pictured killed in a car crash in Nigeria. The pair, who played for Nigerian league side Enugu Rangers, were involved in a crash on the Benin-Agbor road whilst travelling to Lagos that Sunday morning. The players who were returning to Lagos from Enugu following a break in the Nigeria league due to the coronavirus pandemic. Yet again, in that same March 2020, another Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL side, Lobi Stars were involved in a motor accident on their back from match venue. Lobi Stars who were returning to their base in Benue State after edging Kwara United 1-0 in Ilorin on Sunday, could only watch as their team bus exploded and burnt to ashes. The team reportedly left Ilorin, Kwara State capital on a Monday evening and were on the verge to entering Makurdi when the unfortunate incident happened.
Yet again, it’s the same bitter news again in 2021, as various clubs has been experienced series of road mishaps and kidnapping, while traveling to honour their Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) matches in various parts of the country. The worrying trend has become very obvious over the last two months. TheCable recently unveiled a timeline of incidents from February 16, 2021 to date. The timeline numbered the Wikki Tourist Bus Fire, the bus conveying team members of Wikki Tourists Football Club of Bauchi, one of the sides participating in the NPFL, caught fire along the Jos-Bauchi highway. Another is the February 20 robbery and abduction of Adamawa Utd, the bus transporting players of Adamawa United Football Club was attacked by bandits along the Benin-Lagos Highway.The players were robbed while travelling to Lagos to honour a weekend game against MFM FC. The bus driver known as Alhaji Kabiru was abducted by the bandits.
Another is the February 23 scene for FC Robo, a Nigeria’s Women Football League (NWFL) side, was attacked by gunmen along Ijebu-Ode road in Ogun State. They were heading to Agbor, Delta State, from Lagos for their week seven match against Delta Queens. The players and officials of the Lagos-based club had their valuables taken away by the gunmen and were left stranded till the next morning after their driver went missing. Also, Akwa United bus crashed in Enugu after a head-on collision with a truck en route Kaduna to honour their week fifteen match against Jigawa Golden stars.The Uyo-based club said a player and two officials sustained injuries in a Tweet to announce the incident. Yet more, players and officials of Ekiti United football club were involved in an auto accident while returning from their evening training session. And lately, A bus conveying the youth team of NPFL side, Enyimba FC of Aba, was involved in a road accident. The team was on its way back to Aba from a tournament in Imo state.
Obviously, these road mishaps occur because most clubs travel to match venues by road, due to complaints of high cost of air travel by club officials. Yet often, the journey is undertaken a day before their games in order to save costs thus putting the players, officials at the mercies of the bad roads that litter the country and most importantly as well as unfortunately, at the mercies of dare-devil men of the underworld, which leads them to the unexpected. From Manchester to London to Amsterdam to Napoli to Munich to Genk and all over the world, football obviously thrives by movement from one location to another. The football team, their supporters and officials are always part of this movement to supervise and monitor growth in games. The fans most especially are in the obligations of covering the distance between the venues and their residence. Many times has teams in Manchester travelled to countries of Turkey, Spain and the likes to show support. Unlike Nigeria, in more advanced countries, moving from one venue to the other is not so much of a problem because there exists easy means of transportation across such countries. We can always talk of Train, Cable and Aircraft.
Apparently I’m a Manchester United fan, I know Manchester United do not have to leave for match venues days earlier than the kick off date because they have easy means of getting to their centres. Clubs like this, and many others have such means of transportation as effective rail system, affordable aviation service and even smooth water transportation make it easy for teams to get to their destinations without much hassles. However, such is not the case for teams in my beloved country Nigeria, as NPFL clubs ply vulnerably on deplorable Nigerian roads.
- Ogungbile writes in via thedreamchaser65@gmail.com
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