The Nigeria Football Federation  (NFF) has vowed to apply the necessary punishment to the erring club in the rescheduled Nigeria National League (NNL) match between host Ranchers Bees of Kaduna and Kwara United of Ilorin that ended in a fracas at the Abuja National Stadium’s Goal Project Center on Friday.

The Appeals Committee of the NFF had ruled that the remaining 28 minutes left to be played when violence erupted in the first encounter in Kaduna be played in the replay match held in Abuja on Friday. But barely six minutes to go, irate fans invaded the pitch and unleashed mayhem on Referee Charles Ozigbo (from Anambra).

The match was again abandoned for the second time and the Referee could have been lynched but for the timely intervention of the handful of Policemen at the stadium who did everything to ensure that Ozigbo, although seriously assaulted by the irate fans, eventually escaped.

Director of Competitions of the NFF, Dr. Muhammed Sanusi, told SportingLife yesterday that the NFF is awaiting the reports of the match from the appropriate quarters (the referee, match commissioner and others sources) after which the relevant committee dealing with such cases would meet to decide on the matter.

“We are greatly disturbed and shocked by what happened in the match between Ranchers Bees and Kwara United at the Goal Project Center on Friday. Right now we are still awaiting the reports of the match after which the relevant committee will deliberate and decide on the matter based on thorough investigations of what happened during the match.

“I would say once again that the NFF is not happy with this incident and we will come out hard on the culprit after due investigation”, Sanusi declared.

The winner of the expected boardroom decision will pick the fourth promotion ticket to the Nigerian top flight. Wikki Tourists, 3SC and Gabros FC have already booked passages to the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).