By GOC Nwadike
The Akwa Ibom men’s football team have been disqualified from taking part in the men’s football final at the ongoing Niger Delta Sports Festival following a protest lodged by their Imo State counterparts before their semifinal clash on Sunday.
Akwa Ibom went ahead to win the semis 2-1 but the Games Technical Committee has now overturned the result and directed that the Imo State team will now play in Monday’s gold medal match against Edo State. It means the host team will play in the losers’ final following the decision.
Going by the official time table released for today, Monday, April 7, 2025, and the correspondences last night to the Imo team through the Honourable Commissioner For Sports, Obinna Onyeocha, the Akwa Ibom men’s football team were disqualified for using a licensed player.
“The Protest by Team Imo against their Team Akwa Ibom counterparts (male football) in the semifinals of the NDSF was exhaustively deliberated upon by the Adjudicatory body and the Technical Committee. Having conducted due diligence, it was established that player Hosanna Uyor of Team Akwa Ibom is a licensed player. The match has therefore been awarded to Team Imo,” the outcome of the investigative report stated.
Other matches fixed for Monday include third-place matches for women’s and men’s football events between Cross River and Abia and Akwa Ibom and Rivers in men’s football. The final for women will be played between Ondo and Delta.
It will be recalled that similar incident of denial/disqualification of points was recently recorded in the women’s football event between Cross River and Abia states, showing the seriousness and compliance to rules maintained by the organizers of the Niger Delta Sports Festival.
All football matches slated for Monday will now hold at the Practice Pitch of the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo.
