The football league organized by the UCH Students’ Association (USA) faced a turn of events on Saturday afternoon as the match between the Physiotherapy students and the School of Health Information Management (SHIM) ended in a bloody fight.
Tension ensued between both teams towards the end of the match due to the dissatisfaction of the SHIM team with the equalizing goal scored by the Physiotherapy team few minutes to the end of the match.
According to the referee and eye witnesses account, the referee, popularly known as ‘Dr O.J’ called one of the SHIM players after the final whistle was blown and informed him of a foul he committed, admonishing him to be “less rough” in subsequent games. This player happened to be Olaoluwa Olaniyi, a student of SHIM, who is also the President of the UCH Students’ Association (USA). Olaniyi got into an argument with the referee, accusing the referee of favouring the physiotherapy team during the game and giving them extra minutes to equalise. The captain of the physiotherapy team, Godwin, a 500 Level student interfered which resulted in an altercation between him and Olaniyi.
Other members of the SHIM team, upon seeing the President in a quarrel with Godwin became violent and injuring the captain of the Physiotherapy team, Godwin leaving him with a minor stab on the left eyelid. A member of Godwin’s team, Sidney who tried to rescue his captain was also attacked but managed to escape. When Godwin was interviewed, he claimed he could not see well with his left eye.
The president of the Association of Physiotherapy Students (APS), Mr. Damilola Olutayo, who was one of the physiotherapy players, condemned the incident. Mr. Olutayo said “we are moving out of the tournament until we get an apology letter from USA stating clearly that Laolu (Olaniyi) will not be playing any of the tournament (matches) again because he has graduated and he is not even supposed to be on the field in the first place…and also that he must be suspended as the President of USA”
All efforts to reach Mr. Olaniyi proved abortive as he was not picking repeated calls to his phone.. ABH Press approached the Public Relations Officer and Ag. Sport Secretary of USA, Mr. Bolu Alebiosu, who refused to speak on the matter. He said the Executive Council of the association will meet and make a public statement. As of the time of this publication, no statement has been made available to ABH Press.
