Bendel Insurance FC v. Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL)

Kano Pillars beat Bendel Insurance 1-0 at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City on a last-minute penalty converted by Rabiu Ali, and home fans reacted by invading the pitch and confronting match officials, including referee Adeniyi Adewale and fellow officials Anuoluwapo Balogun and Sodiq Sonibare. The NPFL responded with a package of sanctions: a ₦3,000,000 fine for inadequate security and conduct capable of bringing the game into disrepute, a further ₦750,000 in compensation split between the three assaulted officials (a combined ₦3.75 million), an order that the club play its next three home matches behind closed doors, and a three-point and three-goal deduction specifically tied to the assault itself.

Bendel Insurance didn't dispute the security failures, the fines, or the closed-doors order; it protested only the points deduction, arguing the assault didn't meet the seriousness threshold the rules actually require for that particular sanction. The NFF Disciplinary Committee, chaired by Barrister Obikwelu, agreed with that narrow framing on 12 February 2025: it affirmed every other paragraph of the NPFL's decision — the security failings, the fines, the closed-doors order, the compensation — and set aside only the points and goals deduction, holding specifically that the assault was "not grievous" within the meaning of Rule C11 of the NPFL Framework and Rules. In the same ruling, the Committee separately found the match commissioner, Godfrey Maman JP, inexperienced and incompetent to handle a Premier League match, and recommended his demotion to the Nigeria National League.

A companion protest decided by the same committee on the same day, involving Nasarawa United's match against Rivers United on 22 December 2024, in which Nasarawa supporters were shown on video throwing stones and objects onto the field, shows the distinction is a real analytical one rather than a formality: there, the panel set aside a points deduction because the assault "was not proven beyond reasonable doubt" — a factual/evidentiary failure, different from Bendel Insurance's case, where the assault was accepted as having happened but found not serious enough to meet Rule C11's threshold. Two different legal routes to the same practical outcome, decided the same afternoon.