Rivers State based journalist, Sammy Weijnya has reacted to the stadium ban inflicted on him by the NPFL, Sports247 reports.
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Wejinya, an aide to the Rivers State Sports Commissioner, Barrister Chris Green was declared a non Grata into NPFL match venues for the rest of the season.
The NPFL were not comfortable with his account how he was maltreated and beaten at the Lafia Stadium earlier in the season when Nasarawa United played a 1-1 draw with Rivers United.
According to a statement released by the league, Sammy Weijnya’s account of the incident in his article titled ” Lafia , Pain, Blood and Escaping Death By Whiskers ” was exaggerated and riddled with false claims which harmed the image of the NPFL and brought the game into disrepute.
And he was consequently asked to desist from such act that can bring the game into disrepute in future.
In reacting to the ban clap Sammy Weijnya says the crime he committed to warrant a stadium ban for the rest of the season was because he went to the press with a version of how he was beaten instead of treating the case as an “in house thing”.
“My crime was writing an article about what happened to me and circulating on Social Media. They (NPFL) big wigs weren’t happy that I “damaged their brand” by writing about a glaring lack of security at the Stadium that day.”
“For them, the matter should have been treated “in house”, Sammy Weijnya wrote.
The Nigeria Premier Football League has always frowned with any actions or gestures that could tarnish or put the elite football league in disrepute and have served out different degrees of punishment and bans to teams those season but Sammy Weijnya is the journalist to be hit by the NPFL hammer this season.
The Nigeria Premier Football League is on mid season break and it’s expected to resume for the second stanza on the weekend of 24 -25 of January 2025.
