Lobi Stars football club of Makurdi narrowly escaped from relegation on the last game of season after a very poor performance of Katsina United and Shooting Stars of Ibadan in Bauchi and Kano respectively. The Chanji boys had there chances in there hands but threw it away losing 0-2 to host Wikki Tourist in Bauchi a result that saved Lobi Stars from the drop.
Lobi Stars in there last fixture at Okigwe against Abia Warriors in a match that was meant to seperate them from the relegated teams were humiliated 3-0 by the host. The visitors arrived Okigwe without there head coach Babagaru who was conspicuosly missing throughput the game, the unispired team was led by Ganaru’s assistant Tar Akombo, one will wonder what must have kept the head coach away from such an important game that was meant to determine the faith of his team. Ganaru was spotted at the Kofar mata stadium Kano on Sunday watching proceedings in the Kano Pillars vs. Shooting Stars match.
The big question is who actually saved Lobi Stars from relegation, Wikki Tourist, Kano Pillars or the self acclaimed messiah Iorfa? It is very obvious that despite the huge increase in the monthly subvention and match day expenditure of the team on Iorfa’s assumption he did not make any meaningful improvement and in the end the faith of the club was determined by another club.
We all watched in dismay as the team struggled with home games at home. The boys were not motivated to step up there performance even though Governor Ortom did his best for the team while the fans complimented his efforts by standing in as they contineously cheered the team during the trying times .
Iorfa”s managerial ability is seriously in doubt, he has short changed the players and the club staff during the short period he took over, he has violated the club licensing regulations causing embarrassment to the team and the state government. eg. Disbanding the feeder teams was the highest level of ignorance displayed by Iorfa, does it mean that Iorfa is not aware that feeder teams are statutory arms of a professional football clubs? The licence giving to the club to operate as a professional football club includes the feeder teams and even there training programmes.
Some vital staff are also included in the club licensing but Iorfa sacked some staff with out recourse to the club licensing procedures. He did that just to reduce the wage bill for his convenience.
The Gov should note that football is a very sensitive sport especially professional football, the players and staff of Lobi Stars that Dominic Iorfa has refused to pay have their contracts registered with the Nigerian football federation and the League Management Company and the club had duely signed an undertaking to work with them for the period of the licence.
The process of termination is also agreed upon at the start of the contract and most be followed accordingly in an invent where the need for termination arise, the Benue state government will be compared to pay at the end especially now that the team is not relegated. Government should as a matter of urgency reconstitute the Management /Board of Lobi Stars football club now by appionting knowledgeble people that can re-position the team towards acquiring private sector sponsorship.
