AITEO Cup Final Fallout: How VIPs, fans lost valuable items in Kaduna 

By Harry Awurumibe

To say that Kaduna fans love to watch matches at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium is an understatement.

Thus each time any match is played at the stadium built over 5 decades ago by the 1st Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir (Alhaji) Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Sauduana of Sokoto, fans come out in large numbers to watch the game.

Sunday, July 28, 2019 was not different as thousands of fans turned out to watch  this year’s edition of the AITEO Cup Final (men and women) at the  Ahmadu Bello Stadium. The crowd at the arena was unprecedented.

This was partly because of the influx of fans from four states that their teams were involved in the two final matches in on day.

Expectedly, fans arrived from Port Harcourt to support Rivers Angels FC and from Nasarawa state to cheer Nasarawa Amazons.  Coach Christopher Musa Danjuma tutored Amazons beat Angels 5-4 on penalty kicks.

Also supporters of Kano Pillars and Niger Tornadoes that played in the final flooded the stadium in larger numbers from Kano and Niger states.

But the sore point  is that like on many occasions in this same stadium miscreants always outnumbered genuine football fans who would naturally come to watch good football skills and go home peacefully.

Yesterday was no difference as petty thieves, pick pockets and some overzealous security derails of the top government officials who came for the games harassed, molested  and assaulted innocent persons.

Worst still, security operatives who were guiding federal and state government officials had to use teargas canisters to disperse the unruly crowd at stadium in order to safeguard their principals.

The crowd broke the security cordon  and “poured” into the field like flood. In fact, they invaded the pitch as grasshoppers would invade corn plantations.

In the process of this confusion many people including Very Important Personalities (VIPs) lost their valuable items like I- phones, wristwatches, wallets and money just as others suffered various degrees of injuries and fractures.

Yet, some others like this writer was shackled and pushed by gun-totting policemen for trying to return to his seat at the VIP stand after visiting the restroom at Ahmadu Bello Stadium. All efforts to persuade them to go back there fell on deaf ears.

Such was the ordeal of many people who came to watch the games yesterday in  Kaduna. This is one  ugly part of this venue each time any match is played at the stadium.

To stamp out or minimise such incidents in the future, the Federal and Kaduna state governments in conjunction with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Kaduna state FA and various security agencies of the state and federal governments to find solution to the near break down of law and order each time a game is played at this iconic stadium.