Abia Warriors Coach Claims Bad Roads Are Killing NPFL

Abia Warriors coach, Erasmus Onu believes that the poor road network across the country is killing the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL).

NPFL teams have long been concerned about the state of the roads, which frequently endangers the safety and well-being of the players, coaches, and officials.

Numerous tragic incidents over the years have drawn attention to the risks associated with NPFL clubs travelling by road to away games. These incidents include accidents, robberies, and kidnappings.

The Abia Warriors coach who led his team to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Kwara United in Ilorin on Sunday, believes that his team lost due to the poor road network.

Erasmus Onu told the press after the defeat that NPFL club owners should prioritize airlifting their teams to away games to reduce the stress and risk of travelling by road for league games

“Bad roads will kill our league. I think it’s time we start arranging with airlines. We got to Ilorin at 5 a.m. this morning and the stress of the journey really affected us”, he said.

“It was a terrible journey. We have been on the road and had to travel all night because of bad roads”.

While Abia Warriors left Ilorin in lamentations, Kwara United were left to celebrate their first win of the 2023-2024 NPFL season.

The Harmony Boys’ primary objective going into Sunday’s game was to win over their home fans who had missed seeing them play at home after the team’s opening-week 0-1 away loss to Katsina United.

Interestingly, they achieved that in style as the slim 1-0 win pushed them to the 14th spot on the league table with three points in two games.