Match fixing: Business as usual in Nigeria

Photo credit: 4to-sports

Since last weekend, Nigeria has been the laughing stock of the football world after four previously unheralded teams conspired to record a shocking 146 goals in two separate games played in Bauchi State.

Police Machine thrashed Bubayaro FC 67-0, while Plateau United Feeders overwhelmed Akurba FC 79-0 as part of a series of playoff games expected to decide which team would secure promotion to the Nigerian Nationwide League Division 3.

Going into the last round of games last Sunday, Police Machine and Plateau United Feeders were level on points and goal difference, having played out a goalless draw with one another following opening day victories over their respective opponents.

Plateau United had defeated Bubayaro 2-0; the same score line the Police side recorded against Akurba FC.

So both Plateau United and Police Machine needed to not just win their last playoff game, but had to outdo the other in the goalscoring department in order to secure promotion to the Nationwide League Division 3.

To avoid any form of match-fixing, both matches were played simultaneously at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium and the Games Village pitch respectively, but that was not enough to prevent the teams from carrying out their envisaged plans, as if that had ever stopped any side bent on getting their way in the past as was the case back in 1984 in a match involving Nigeria and Algeria.

The fix of ’84

Adeboye Onigbinde was Nigeria's coach in 1984.
Photo credit: Punch

According to former Algeria international, Mohammed Shoaib, his country connived with Nigeria in a match fixing scandal to eliminate Ghana at the 1984 Africa Cup of Nations.

Nigeria needed a draw to advance to the semi-final of the tournament but Ghana had to win against Malawi and then pray for the Super Eagles, then known as the Green Eagles, to falter against Algeria to be able to advance.

Ghana won the match against Malawi but could not advance because Algeria and Nigeria, according to Shoaib, hatched a plan to settle for a draw to ensure the Black Stars’ elimination from the tournament.

Nemesis for the Algerians 

A similar fate befell the Algerians two years earlier at the FIFA World Cup when West Germany and Austria connived to send the North Africans packing in arguably the most shameful game ever played at the World Cup.

That was however the game which finally forced FIFA to change its tournament scheduling for subsequent World Cups so that the final pair of matches in each group are played simultaneously.

Around the world

Four years earlier, in a match between Argentina and Peru, the Argentines, who had only managed to score six goals in their opening five games, needed a four-goal victory over a Peruvian side that had conceded just six goals in five games, to advance over Brazil to the final.

Yet somehow, Argentina won 6–0, and then proceeded to defeat the Netherlands 3-1 in the final to clinch the World Cup. But nothing was ever proven.

In December 1983, Spain needed to defeat Malta by eleven goals to qualify for the 1984 European Championships ahead of the Netherlands. And they got it, defeating the Maltese 12–1, with nine of their goals arriving in the second half.

Nigeria takes the cake

But all these are nothing compared to the show put on display in Bauchi which recorded a scandalous tally of 146 goals, of which 133 were scored in the second half alone.

Plateau United Feeders led Akurba by 7-0 after the opening 45 minutes, while Police Machine led Bubayaro 6-0.

In the aftermath of the scandal, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) suspended all four teams, just as everyone associated with the games, from team to match officials, including the match commissioners of the games in question, were ordered to report to the NFF’s secretariat in Abuja to explain their roles in the jamboree.

Analysts, however, feel that nothing will come out of these investigations as the NFF – past and present – have a habit of approaching such matters lackadaisically.

The curious case of Akwa United

In 2006, Akwa United went into their last game of the 2005/2006 season against Calabar Rovers requiring an incredible 12-goal victory margin to surpass rivals Bussdor FC on goals difference and secure promotion to the Nigerian Premier League.

No one was expecting that to happen, after all this was an Akwa United side which had scored a paltry nine goals all season.

Incredibly though, the team from Uyo rammed 13 unreplied goals past their hapless neighbours from Calabar to gain promotion to the Nigerian top flight division.

Expectedly, Bussdor officials lodged their protest with the NFF but no one could provide any evidence suggesting that the United-Rovers game had been fixed, even though the Cross Rivers government decided weeks later to disband the state government-bankrolled Rovers side for ‘embarrassing’ the state.

Three years later, Akwa United were on the receiving end as they suffered relegation from the Premier League after Zamfara United defeated Kaduna United 9-0 on the very last day of the season to retain its status in the Nigerian top flight by virtue of superior goals difference over the side from Uyo.

The Nigerian Premier League board, on the order of the NFF, conducted an inquest into the whole saga following an allegation of match-fixing raised by Akwa United, but as was the case back in 2006, no one could prove that Zamfara United and Kaduna United were not ‘united’ in their quest to send Akwa back to the Nigerian second-tier division.

The Imo scandal

The NFF however appeared to have gotten its acts right two years later, in 2009, when its board slammed a year-long ban on officials of the Imo State Football Association, including its Chairman, Amanze Uchegbulam, and a two-year ban on Owerri-based Imo United FC after they were found guilty of organising a bogus league match involving the latter and Akpabuyo United of Cross Rivers State, which Imo United won 9-1.

Imo United needed a massive eight-goal victory margin on the very last day of the league season to surpass their closest rivals and gain promotion to the Nigerian second division.

Akpabuyo United, neither battling relegation nor fighting for promotion, however didn’t feel the need to travel to Owerri to keep a date with their opponents who, out of desperation, arranged to have the game played with a fake Akpabuyo United side in attendance.

When news emerged that Imo United had defeated Akpabuyo United 9-1, and had gained promotion to the second division, the management of the ‘real’ Akpabuyo United promptly wrote to the NFF stating that they were not able to honour the said match and were surprised to learn that they had been on the receiving end of the scandalous goal margin.

The NFF investigated the matter and consequently confirmed that Imo United had organised a phony team to play the match with the connivance of the match referee Samuel Okonkwo, who was handed an indefinite ban.

NFF’s bark worse than its bite 

And just last year, the NFF banned Dolphins FC head coach, Stanley Eguma, for five years for attempting to fix a match involving Lobi Stars and Sunshine Stars in Bauchi which ended in a draw.

Also banned at the time, alongside Eguma, for five years, was the game’s centre referee, Chrisantus Okoro, and his assistant, CID Durunna, who allegedly travelled to the match venue in a Sunshine Stars official car.

The bans on the referees were however overturned by the Appeals Committee of the NFF a few months later.

Not so for Eguma though, as his ban remained in place even though he continues to date to operate in his official capacity with Dolphins FC, sitting on the team’s bench in the current campaign.

The NFF has come under intense spotlight on how it handles this latest scandal; and the preliminary results of their findings, analysts say, will show whether a genuine attempt is being made to fix the match-fixing business for good.