Magistrate Tijjani Minjibir calls for the creation of special courts to punish football hooligans in Nigeria
By Abdulgafar Oladimeji
Magistrate Tijjani Saleh Minjibir has said the creation of mobile court dedicated to entertain football offences will help to mitigate the acts of football hooliganism in Nigeria.
He also call for the urgent creation of the court in Kano state to punish those involved in acts of football hooliganism..
The serving judicial officer with Kano state High court of justice and former Vice chairman, Kano state Football Association, KSFA said hooliganism has a long historic date with the game of football, saying Kano state parades a rich football history and its case could not be an exception.
According to him, there is need for conscious efforts to overcome the menace of football hooliganism in Nigeria, citing instances of recent scenario that tells the story of hooliganism in Nigeria..
Tijjani reacting to the acts of hooliganism allegedly perpetrated by Kano Pillars supporters, in a match day encounter against arch rivals Katsina United, he condemned what he described as the show of shame by the unknown supporters.
Speaking on a live radio sports show , on Aminchi radio monitored in Kano, he said Kano football industry is large enough to be given the chance to punish offenders through the establishment of a mobile court before which football hooligans would be arraigned, prosecuted and convicted where possible.
He cautioned that the continued failure to punish pepetrators of the acts of football hooliganism will not augur well in the interest of the game.
According to him, Kano state sports authorities must borrow a leaf from football hooliganism infested territories that had to deal with and subdued similar cases in the past.
He disabused the notion that the creation of such courts would require the promulgation of fresh legislation, explaining that football authorities could rely on existing administrative laws to pursue the creation of the special courts.
He then urged for the use of modern techniques of combating sports crimes, citing the use of intelligence gathering and under cover methodical practices to to deter, unravel and prosecute criminal elements operating within the football system in Nigeria.