The Confederation of African Football, CAF, has announced that the Referees Committee confirmed the recommendation for Joseph Ogabor to be sanctioned for contacting South African referees led by Gomes to manipulate a Confederation Cup clash on April 7 in Lagos.
CAF have also cautioned Plateau United to stop the practice of hospitality gifts as it creates wrong impressions.
The continental ruling body ordered theSouth Africa Football Association (SAFA) to apologise to Nigeria after investigations proved there was no evidence of an official offering the referees a $30,000 bribe.
The statement on the official website of CAF reads:
“The CAF Referees Committee on 28 April 2018, has confirmed the recommendation of the CAF Disciplinary Board to ban Nigeria referee Joseph Ogabor from any official mission for one year for attempted match manipulation with respect to the Total CAF Confederation Cup 1/16th round first leg between Plateau United (Nigeria) and USM Alger (Algeria) played on 7 April 2018 in Lagos,” the statement reads.
“The decision follows investigations conducted and evidence submitted by the South African match officials of the said match, who were contacted by Ogabor to provide “technical assistance” to the Nigerian team.
“Also, Plateau United was cautioned to refrain from the practice of hospitality gifts which tend to create wrong impression.
“In a related development, the South African Football Association have been ordered to render an apology to the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) after investigations proved there was no evidence of whatsoever of any official of the NFF regarding an allegation of US$30,000 bribe.”
USMA beat Plateau United 5-2 on aggregate to qualify for the group stage of this year’s Confederation Cup.
Source: News Agencies
