Kano Pillars relegated from Nigerian football top-tier after 20 years

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Kano Pillars have been relegated from the Nigeria Professional Football League after their appeal against a points deduction was dismissed by the Nigeria Football Federation.

The NPFL giants were confirmed to have joined MFM of Lagos in going down today when the NFF published the decision of the governing body’s appeal committee, which sat yesterday in Abuja.

Pillars had initially not had the points deducted by the League Management Company, which instead imposed a suspended two-point penalty after the Kano club’s former chairman Sirajo Yahaya assaulted the assistant referee and the visiting opponents’ recording equipment got damaged during their NPFL home clash against Dakkada on June 23.

However, the NFF Disciplinary Committee, citing an earlier infringement by Pillars against Katsina United for which there was already a suspended points deduction, ruled that the Kano side would forfeit three points.

“The Committee having found that Kano Pillars FC officials destroyed camera (Sony HD Full HD 1920×1080) belonging to Dakkada Int’l FC and lost valuables belonging to Uchenna Iyioke hereby activates the three (3) points suspended sentence contained in the summary jurisdiction of the League Management Company between Kano Pillars FC and Katsina United FC in matchday 23 fixtures dated the 17th day of April, 2022. Particularly paragraph 5(k) to wit: ‘In the event of any further similar breach of the League Rules, Kano Pillars FC shall forfeit three (3) points from the points accruing to the club in addition to any other sanctions that may be deemed appropriate,’” the NFF Disciplinary Committee explained their ruling last week.

Pillars appealed the decision, pleading that the three points should not be removed from the haul as they fought against relegation.

But the NFF Appeals Committee ruled yesterday and announced today that the appeal failed, leaving Kano Pillars stuck in the drop zone, five points adrift of safety with only one matchday left in the campaign.

“The decision of the Disciplinary Committee is hereby upheld,” the Appeals Committee wrote. “Consequently, the appeal is hereby dismissed.”

Kano Pillars are now officially the second club to be relegated from the NPFL after MFM this season to the second-tier Nigeria National League.

The former champions will be out of the top flight for the first time in 20 years.

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