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By Johnny Edward.
Bayelsa United coach, Deprieye Tebowei, has been summoned to a disciplinary hearing by the Interim Management Committee of the Nigeria Professional Football League to provide evidence to support his claims of biased officiating, following comments he made after their match-day four fixture against Lobi Stars.
Tebowei reportedly accused the match referee of biased officiating in the wake of their 3-0 defeat in Makurdi, an action considered a misconduct by the IMC.
The Bayelsa United coach said there were question marks against the match officials.
He reportedly said, “Even though Lobi Stars scored clean goals, the officiating has a lot of question marks, as one side was favoured above the other.
“How can you say you want to improve the standard of the league and the referees are still officiating this way? If we continue like this, our standard will never improve.”
Tebowei is expected to come with the club’s chairman and documents, or other verifiable evidence to support the comments made after the match in reference.
The hearing is scheduled to take place February 7, at the league secretariat, Abuja.
In the summons addressed to Bayelsa United, the IMC Legal and Compliance Unit, wrote, “It has come to our attention that the Technical Adviser of Bayelsa United, Deprieye Tebowei, has made reckless and unguarded comments that questions the sporting integrity of the Nigeria Premier Football League.
“The comments, which have been published on various media platforms, were made after the Match-Day 4 fixture: Lobi Stars FC vs. Bayelsa United FC.”
The club was reminded that the league had official channels through which complaints and grievances were to be communicated and addressed.
“Comments of this nature constitute misconduct under Rule C1 of the NPFL Framework and Rules, as it is capable of bringing the league to disrepute.”