NPL may cancel games over strike

EXECUTIVE Secretary of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL), Tunji Babalola, has announced that the league could be forced to cancel the Week Two matches for this weekend if the nationwide strike over the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government continues.Babalola told MTNFootball.com that the NPL cannot guarantee the safety of clubs with the nationwide protests on, and as such would call off the Week 2 matches should the protests continue by today. He said: 'We cannot guarantee the security of teams with the ongoing protests and strike action over the withdrawal of fuel subsidy.'But we want to remain positive that the strike would be called off before Thursday. However, if the strike continues, we would have no option but to call off Week 2 matches billed for this weekend.'Babalola also disclosed that due to the ongoing protests, the NPL has been forced to push to Thursday the Week 1 game between Kaduna United and Jigawa Golden Stars earlier billed for yesterday.'The strike has forced us to call off Wednesday's game between Kaduna United and Jigawa Golden Stars. The game was to be played on Wednesday, but we have pushed it to Thursday with the hope that the strike would be called off before then.'In the meantime, President of the Nigeria Colleges of Education Games (NASEGA), Sanusi Mohammed, has announced the indefinite postponement of the Games earlier billed to begin next week in Port Harcourt. Mohammed disclosed that NASEGA was forced to call off the Games due to the ongoing strike in the country.'We are very sad that we have to postpone the games,' he said. 'But we the executive board of NASEGA believe this is the best decision. Going ahead with the Games would mean putting the lives of innocent students at risk with the security situation in the country. And that is not something we would want to do.'I want to apologise to participating schools and hope they understand that with this nationwide protests, it is in the best interest of NASEGA that we put the Games on hold.
Click here to read full news..