By Austin Tyowua, Media Officer Lobi Stars FC
We woke up this morning of 1st February 2021 to the utter shock as the media is awash with the news that coach IMAMA Amapakabo was molested by Lobi Stars fans in the aftermath of The Match Day 7 of NPFL 2020/2021 in Makurdi which ended 0-0. We hereby state as follows:
1. That Lobi Stars has a history of been peaceful in their home ground even in the face of home defeat.
2. That we were not aware of such incident, even though we didn’t leave the stadium immediately after the game…
3. Abia Warriors has been a beneficiary of our friendly gesture having defeated Lobi Stars 4-2 in the past in Makurdi before a large home crowd and no one was molested.
4. We, therefore, wonder what would have been Imama’s offense to have warranted any molestation, if the Referee that purportedly disallowed a goal in the eyes of a layman wasn’t molested?
5. More intriguing is the fact that the report quoted the Media Officer of Abia Warriors who claimed to be a living witness that the molester was a stadium steward, and our stewards are thoroughly trained to mitigate such incidences not been part of it. As a matter of fact, we have never had a case of our well-trained stadium stewards getting involved in such an incident.
6. Such media publication has the tendency of inciting Abia Warriors fans to violence when Lobi Stars will be their guests in the return leg later in the season.
6. It’s unfortunate that this kind of unverifiable stories would be allowed to fly at such a time as this when the LMC is doing all its best to improve and create sanity in the league.
