For years, there has been public outcry within the football sector about the inability of Nigerian referees to officiate in African and world football. As a successful footballing nation, enthusiasts expect to see Nigerian officials go as far as Nigerian football stars, but they have been overlooked for major duties in Africa and at the global level.
In November 2023, it was announced that 30 Nigerian referees had been approved by the world football governing body, FIFA to be placed on the international lists for the year 2024, but recent reports stated that none made the required shortlist for the main event rather, assigned to officiate at age-grade competitions, FIFA Women’s World Cup as well as futsal and beach football. Among the 30 referees listed are 11 referees, 11 assistant referees, four beach soccer referees, and four futsal referees.
12 match officials were listed by FIFA from Africa, with none from Nigeria. The African referees for the tournament include Beida Dahane from Mauritania, Ismail Mahmood Ali from Sudan, and Karboubi Bouchra from Morocco.
Meanwhile, assistant referees from Africa include Ahmed Liban Abdoulrazack from Djibouti, Chikotesha Diana from Zambia, Jermouni Fatiha from Morocco, Noupue Elvis from Cameroon, Santos Jerson Emiliano Dos from Angola, and Yiembe Stephen from Kenya. Ashour Mahmoud from Egypt and Benbraham Lahlou from Algeria were selected for the video match official category.
This means that Nigerian referees are now set to miss out again on football events at the 2024 Olympic Games. It would be recalled that no Nigerian referee has refereed at the FIFA World Cup while the Confederation of African Football, CAF in the last decade has not considered any male Nigerian referee for the Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON.
The closest Nigeria came to breaking the World Cup jinx was in 2014 when Peter Egan Edibi, now a retired FIFA referee, was shortlisted for the World Cup in Brazil but failed to make the final list due to what many believed to be high-level politics in CAF and FIFA.
Days after the conclusion of Africans most prestigious tournament, 2023, AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire, Ibrahim Gusau, president of the Nigerian Football Federation, NFF said efforts are being made to ensure Nigerian referees return to officiating in major continental and global competitions. He spoke at an event where some Nigerian referees were decorated with FIFA badges in Abuja.
Over 26 referees, 30 assistant referees, and 12 VAR referees were selected to officiate the recently concluded AFCON. No Nigerian referee cut. Speaking on the situation, Gusau described the absence of Nigerian match officials in Cote d’Ivoire as a “real shame”.
The NFF president added that he receives complaints “about poor officiating in our league matches almost every week,” adding that some of the decisions he sees are “simply inexplicable”. Gusau said he wants to see more Nigeria referees officiating in major continental championships, adding that stringent penalties would be put in place for “anyone disgracing the uniform”.
“The absence of any Nigerian referee of whatever cadre in Cote d’Ivoire remained ‘an elephant in the room’ for most of us that were in Cote d’Ivoire. It is a real shame that we didn’t even have an assistant referee,” the NFF President said.
“The CAF Head of Refereeing was quoted at some time saying Nigerian referees are good, but they need only the best to handle matches at major tournaments. Are we happy about that?
“I receive complaints/videos about poor officiating in our League matches almost every week, and always forward these to the Referees Committee to see that we still have some bad eggs amongst us. Some of the decisions I see are simply inexplicable. You must resolve here and now to change your ways and change the narratives about Nigerian referees at home and abroad.”
“To whom much is given, much is expected. We ensured that the NPFL improved indemnities at the beginning of the season, and I have also instructed the General Secretary to start the process of procuring the necessary gadgets for our referees. But anyone caught disgracing the uniform, the refereeing body, and by extension Nigeria football, will be thrown into a permanent cooler. We want to see you people officiating at top continental championships, and we will not sit idly by while some incorrigible ones destroy all that vision,” he said.
Just recently, NFF banned for life referee Zaharadeen Nasiru from Katsina State and his assistant Usman Auwalu of Borno State over their poor handling of the Nigeria National League, NNL week 17 fixture between Jigawa Golden Stars and Sporting Supreme in Dutse.
It will be recalled that the referee awarded a highly controversial goal against the visitors from Abuja after a player of Jigawa Golden Stars scored using his hand, expectedly, the video clip capturing the ‘Maradonic’ goal went viral necessitating swift action from the NFF.
The NFF Referees’ Committee in the letter of expulsion signed by Mohammed Ameenu stated clearly that “Given the serious nature of the decision taken in your week 17 match involving Jigawa Golden Stars and Sporting Supreme FC played in Dutse wherein your actions brought refereeing and the game in Nigeria into disrepute, I am directed to notify you that you have been expelled with immediate effect the league and refereeing generally,” the statement read.
In game week eight of 2023/2024 Nigeria Premier Football League NPFL and the NFF were left with no option but to suspend at least 14 referees in the ongoing NPFL season over poor officiating. The NFF’s Referees Development Committee/Unit had written to the NPFL’s Chief Operating Officer, Davidson Owumi ordering the suspension of Bawa Buhari, Chukwuka Jahlove, Akinwale Tomiwa, Saeed Abdulaziz, Jimmy Aimugbonrie, Brown Ebenezer and Atuwho Morrison, Imamu Maliki, Sunday Azi and the four match officials involved in a Matchday 6 fixture between Sunshine Stars and Abia Warriors.
The referee’s committee also demanded video footage of the games in which these NPFL match officials performed poorly and deserved to be temporarily suspended from the NPFL. Consequently, the NPFL is to provide full video of the matches the affected referees officiated including the three fixtures involving Niger Tornadoes and two games of Sporting Lagos.
Not forgotten are the video clips of the Matchday 5 encounter between Gombe United and Plateau United as well as the week 7 fixture between Bendel Insurance and Remo Stars in Benin where a potential goal of the season scored by a Remo Stars player was controversially disallowed.
An average Nigerian league player or coach has the most horrible stories to tell about referees in all the tiers of the country’s league, but ironically, a lot of them maintain relationships with these refs off the field of play.
Football administrators are also on either side of the divide, depending on how mutual their relationships with the men in the middle are. For the fans, they can only watch from afar and wonder why certain things they can’t comprehend happen in the game they love so much. And when results don’t go their way, they vent their anger on the refs, inflicting serious injuries on them, in some cases.
From the NPFL to the Nigeria Women’s Football League, NWFL, and the lower tiers of the men’s and women’s games in the country, different circumstances have shaped these perspectives.
As a result of being perceived as enemies of their teams by overzealous fans, Nigerian refs have been assaulted on many occasions due to circumstances beyond their control, thus making them the victims and enemies of the game at the same time. It is hard to recall any situation where the referees have been applauded openly as much as they are given the stick.
Many have complained about the lack of adequate security to help protect them against angry fans during and after the game.
It will be recalled that in 2019, during the NPFL Super 6 playoffs at the Agege Township Stadium in Lagos, Kano Pillars captain Rabiu Ali was in the middle of one of the biggest assaults on match officials after charging referee Adebimpe Quadri over what he perceived as biased officiating against his team.
His action fuelled the rage of the fans, who wielded sticks against the helpless officials. Although the player later denied abusing or attacking the referee, Ali was eventually banned for 12 games, and Pillars was fined N8m by the then League Management Company.
Not the NPFL this time around but a Nationwide League One game between Akure City and Hammola FC from Osun State in 2022. In what would have been described as a good outing for the away side, who got a 2-1 victory over their hosts, the outcome of the game set up the officials for beating as locals perceived them as biased against the home team.
Just before full time, the fans converged on the side of the pitch, with various items they could lay their hands on, threatened all cameramen to stop recording, and pounced on the center ref and one of his assistants, who ran across the pitch helplessly.
Players and officials of the home team were as surprised as their visitors and the actions of their unruly fans cost them their slot in the National League One, NLO.
Before the playoffs in 2019, the Nigeria Referees Association, NRA threatened a boycott of games if their security at match venues was not guaranteed. This came after an attack on a ref, Bethel Nwanesi, during an NPFL match-day three game between Remo Stars and Bendel Insurance in Sagamu.
“The weekly reports of attacks on referees at the match venues whenever home teams fail to win on their grounds since the 2018/2019 league commenced may have caused a change in the association’s approach,” the NRA said.
“Recall that the sore point witnessed so far in the top Nigeria league that is in week three is the `one week, one attack on referee’ incidents.
“In the week one match in Jos, Plateau, Plateau United vs Ifeanyi Uba FC, the referees were beaten blue and back by supporters of the home side because they drew at home. We also urge football authorities in the country to wade into the matter because the association is on the verge of asking its members to keep away from the league to avoid being killed by rampaging supporters,” the NRA stated.
A report from The Punch stated that a retired FIFA-badged referee, Henry Ogunyanmodi, narrated how he was assaulted in the dressing room during a live NPFL game in 2013/2014.
“It happened to me in 2014 during a league game in Uyo between Akwa United and Warri Wolves. Interestingly, it was a live match and everything seemed to be going on well until halftime. Akwa United were leading 2-0. But surprisingly, when we got to the dressing room, they started beating us
“Nobody knew what happened in the dressing room, so I decided we wouldn’t continue the game because of our safety. After I observed the tunnel properly, I ran onto the pitch and drew attention to the incident.
“The second half of the game was played in Katsina and Akwa incurred the cost for the away team as well. I also remember that two of our colleagues had been victims there before. One retired FIFA female referee Felicia and another were beaten at the same venue before,” he said.
Even while the home team was in control of the game, Ogunyanmodi insisted that it is natural to suspect the home when such an incident happens because the state football associations of the home teams are supposed to provide adequate security. If there will be any breach, it will be as a result of their negligence or compromise.
Amid all the patterns associated with the safety of refs while carrying out their jobs, sometimes the urge for soul searching will call for the question; ‘why would anyone even beat a referee?’
The popular opinion is that most times, they are bribed by the home team to turn results in their favour, thereby leaving the away team at the mercy of poor officiating. But in contrast, assaults are allegedly carried out by the home fans.
It is said that refs under the then League Management Company, LMC were owed indemnities for several seasons, leading to an arrangement in which home teams took care of their fees like transportation, accommodation and even feeding.
The inability of the defunct LMC to fulfill its financial obligations to the men in the middle further cemented the notion that refs were at the mercy of home teams or even the highest bidders.
One of the referees, Olalekan Daramola said that refs are not being owed. “No, referees are not being offered money. Would you offer money to a man you know cannot change the outcome of a match? Poor officiating is not about money, it’s either about security, poor understanding of the laws of the game, lack of equipment for referees, and poor physical, emotional, and mental form,” he said.
For now, we are still waiting for the day a Nigerian referee will rise above poor officiating which is usually triggered by bribery and corruption, to officiate at the biggest stage in world football. No Nigerian has officiated at the Olympics or the FIFA World Cup.
By Benprince Ezeh
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