Nothing is settled yet in the week 33 tie between IfeanyiUba and El-Kenami Warriors as the order for a replay looks to have divided the hierarchy in the League Management Company.
On Sunday, October 12, visitors El-Kanemi Warriors failed to honour their Week 33 encounter with Ifeanyi Ubah, however, the match officials with no official news or notice of postponement from the league organisers, went ahead to perform the traditional walk-over rites.

On why El Kanemi boycotted, the Borno outfit were reportedly observing a protest over the non-payment of their salaries, and hence appealed for a shift of the game to press home their demands from the state government.

El Kanemi are facing LMC sanctions for failing to settle the outstanding debts owed players for months and risk a six points deduction if they fail to meet the set deadline of October 27.

But surprisingly on Monday, the LMC ruled in a statement that the botched Week 33 game between Ubah and El Kanemi be replayed on Wednesday, October 28 after accepting the reasons submitted by the visitors.

According to the LMC, El Kanemi will foot the bills of the adjusted controversial tie as they will pay two million Naira for organising the replay and 240,000 Naira assumed revenue for the home team.

"It is our ruling that El Kanemi Warriors will bear the cost of organising the botched match as well as pay compensation to the host club for loss of revenue. They will pay N2m as cost of organising the botched match and N240,000 as compensation to FC Ifeanyi Ubah for loss of revenue," the statement stated.

The LMC described as illegal and against it league rules El Kanemi's appeal for postpone of the match over the strike actions embarked upon by it players citing section D of the league rules.

"The strike action embarked upon by the players is not only contrary to the 
procedure for declaring a trase dispute under the League rules, but it also undermines the proceedings already instituted by the LMC in respect of the subject matter of unpaid wages.

"Before declaring a trade dispute with a club, the players or official shall first issue a 45-day notice to the club management and further give the LMC a period of 15 days to intervene, upon the failure of which the matter should be referred to the Arbitration Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation, rather than resorting to a strike action. Obviously, this process was not adhered to by the players," the LMC cited.

Meanwhile, IfeanyiUbah are set to appeal the case at the NFF O&D, insisting on three points, three goals after they had observed a walk-over against El Kanemi. The Nnewi outfit insist they will not honour the replay on October 28, rejecting the verdict of the LMC.

Inside sources in the LMC hinted Goal that Shehu Dikko wants the game replayed to avoid a sharing of boardroom points, but some top officials of the LMC had pitched tent with IfeanyiUbah insisting the maximum points be awarded to the host club.

According to the Article 12Bis on Fifa Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players 2015 as amended - Clubs are required to comply with their financial obligations towards players  and other clubs as per the terms stipulated in the contracts signed with their professional players and in the transfer agreements.

It also states, "Any club found to have delayed a due payment for more than 30 days without a prima facie contractual basis may be sanctioned in accordance with paragraph 4 below - a -warning; b) a reprimand; c) a fine; d) a ban from registering any new players."

It further said, "In order for a club to be considered to have overdue payables in the sense of the present article, the creditor (player or club) must have put the debtor club in default in writing and have granted a deadline of at least ten days for the debtor club to comply with its financial obligation(s).

This means the provision of 45 days to file an appeal and 15 days intervention in the LMC legal framework clearly contradicts the Fifa Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players 2015 as amended.

FIFA Article 1 (Scope), paragraph 3 A&B on Fifa Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players 2015 as amended states that the following provisions are binding at national level (including Nigeria) and must be included without modification in the association's regulations: articles 2-8, 10, 11, 12bis, 18, 18bis, 18ter, 19 and 19bis.

It further says each association shall include in its regulations appropriate means to protect contractual stability, paying due respect to mandatory national law and collective bargaining agreements.

The biggest question now is were the reasons offered by El Kanemi sufficient enough to necessitate a replay of the botched match? Based on the LMC's rules and regulations, the Anambra Warriors should be awarded three points and three goals against their visitors, who failed to turn up for the game.

The LMC's verdict to replay the encounter after El Kanemi never departed their home ground could be considered an aberration to Caf's decision in Club Africane/Dolphins tie to award victory to the Tunisian outfit despite the Nigerian side turned up lately in Tunis with an appeal.

Though the LMC holds some disciplinary powers to make the ruling stand, its decision to order a replay could set a precedence for other clubs.

Excited fans of the domestic league will hope this would not bring any distraction to the impressive-concluding 2014/2015 season with five ges left to play.