Violence erupted at the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano on Sunday evening after Shooting Stars (3SC) of Ibadan scored a dramatic 94th-minute equaliser to snatch a 1-1 draw against Kano Pillars in a Matchday 8 fixture of the Nigerian Premier Football League (NPFL).
SaharaReporters learned that shortly after the away team scored, furious Kano Pillars supporters stormed the pitch, physically assaulting the referee, match officials, and Shooting Stars players.
This forced security operatives to fire teargas in a desperate bid to restore order.
Pictures of the incident obtained by SaharaReporters showed dozens of fans wielding sticks and other objects, breaking through the security cordon before charging at the officials, who fled toward the tunnel for safety.
The confrontation began immediately after Shooting Stars equalised deep into stoppage time, a goal that infuriated sections of the home crowd, who accused the referee of bias.
Eyewitnesses told SaharaReporters that several match officials narrowly escaped assault, while players and coaches from both sides rushed off the field amid the chaos.
“It was total confusion. Once Shooting Stars scored, the fans lost control. They jumped the barriers, ran into the pitch, and started chasing the referee. Security had to fire teargas to push them back,” a journalist who was at the stadium narrated.
In April, SaharaReporters reported how angry Shooting Stars fans held players, coaches, referees, and journalists hostage for over an hour at the Lekan Salami Stadium in Ibadan after a goalless match against Ikorodu City.
Speaking to SaharaReporters, Samuel Bamisebi, spokesperson for Ikorodu City FC, confirmed that it was the intervention of military personnel that dispersed the angry crowd and evacuated those trapped in the dressing rooms.
“As you saw in the viral video, the players, coaches and officials were held hostage inside the dressing room after the game. Even the referee and other officials, as well as some journalists,” Bamisebi said.
“So, the management later called for reinforcement, and it took the intervention of some military personnel deployed before everyone was able to leave. The military came to disperse the crowd, and everyone left unharmed.”
He explained that although no players or officials sustained physical injuries during the ordeal, fans of Ikorodu City were not as lucky.
“It was our fans that were attacked. Their bus was destroyed, and one of them was injured during the process. Many of them lost their phones. When they took their phones out to record what happened, they got snatched, and they lost them,” he said.
Bamisebi also addressed speculations that the stadium lights were intentionally turned off to intimidate the visiting team.
“On the issue of the light being switched off, I think it was not targeted at us. The lights were switched off throughout the entire stadium, not just in our dressing rooms. None of our players and officials were injured,” he said.
