Nigerian referee, Joseph Ogabor, has been placed on a one-year ban by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for allegedly attempting to manipulate the first leg of the Confederation Cup match between Plateau United and USM Algiers.
South African referee Victor Gomes reported to CAF that one of the two clubs tried to bribe him and his assistants with $30,000 to fix the first leg at Agege Stadium in Lagos on April 8.
The Nigerian champions won the encounter 2-1 and lost the reverse fixture in Algeria 4-0 to crash out of the competition.
A statement on CAF’s website on stated, “The CAF Referees Committee on April 28, 2018 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 April 7, 2018 in Lagos.
“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.”
The committee warned Plateau to desist from giving hospitality gifts to match officials. The South African Football Association was also asked to apologise to the Nigeria Football Federation, who was cleared of any wrongdoing in the incident.
The statement added, “Also, Plateau United was cautioned to refrain from the practice of hospitality gifts which tend to create the wrong impression.
“In a related development, the South African Football Association has been ordered to render an apology to the Nigeria Football Federation after investigations proved there was no evidence whatsoever of any official of the NFF regarding an allegation of $30,000 bribe.”
