El-Kanemi Warriors face NFF hammer due to indebtedness to former players

El-Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri who are on the verge of returning to top flight football in the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), face being banned from registering new players if they fail to pay judgment sums to their former players whose contracts were unilaterally terminated.

The Nigeria Football Federation has ruled in favour of the players and has given El-Kanemi Warriors a 30 day ultimatum from the date of the decision (May 24th 2024).

Through their legal representative FIFA Licensed Agent Mr. Eddie Iseri Ogbemudia, the players Bala Yusuf Mohammed, Adoyi Emmanuel and Suleiman Sadiq Abubakar had written to the Nigeria Football Federation Players' Status and Arbitration committee, explaining in detail how El Kanemi Warriors had treated them unjustly by unlawfully breaching the contract binding them.

The NFF after reviewing documents submitted by the claimants, and response from the respondent El-Kanemi Warriors, found out that El-Kanemi Warriors were guilty of unilaterally terminating the contract of the players without just cause, and ordered the Maiduguri based club to settle the overdue payables in the next 30 days from May 24th 2024.

Although the NFF ruled that the team should pay 50 percent of the salaries owed, a decision which FIFA Licensed Agent, Mr. Eddie Iseri Ogbemudia finds shocking, but the agent who is at the forefront of getting justice for the players said it's a thing of joy to see that the NFF's Players Status/Arbitration committee is now functional.

He said: "The Nigeria Football Federation deserves commendation, particularly the committee in charge of Players' status and Arbitration, in the past, nothing would have happened, but this response and decision gives me the confidence that we can push for more.

"I was before the committee few days ago in Abuja where I presented the case of our clients, I know it’s a process with time we will get it right."

"Our legal team are currently studying the decision issued by the NFF especially the areas that are not too clear to us and we shall advise our clients accordingly on the next steps to take.

"So other teams owing players and those that have terminated players' contract unlawfully should be prepared for NFF's hammer, because NFF will be coming after them one after the other and the issue of unlawful termination of contract would be a thing of the past."

Bayo Adegboyega

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