Izu: Union mobilises players for justice

The National Association of Nigeria Professional Footballers has said that it is mobilising players in the Nigeria Professional Football League to demand for justice for slain Shooting Stars of Ibadan player, Joseph Izu.
The Secretary, Austin Popo, in a statement on Wednesday said NANPF has written petitions to the military and sports authorities calling for independent investigation.
Popo said it has become necessary to mobilise current players in the NPFL to stage a demand for justice for their late colleague.
The statement said: “The Union has equally put its members on notice, especially the current professional league players, through their chairman, the first vice president of the union, Comrade Austin Festus, captain of Rivers United FC, demanding their solidarity to get justice for Izu Joseph while we wait for the official response from the military and other sports bodies and committees that supervise and oversee sporting activities in Nigeria.
“It would be recalled that the late player was shot twice by the army on the 16th October 2016 in the late player’s village, Okarki, in Rivers State, and thrown into the river during a raid by the military who claimed the player was a cultist. The players Union had since debunked the claim by the military that Late Izu Joseph was a cultist. The President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigamaa has assured the Nigeria players union, one of its affiliates, that the TUC will task the Military and all necessary sports and government agencies to get to root of the avoidable and unwarranted killing of the late player and ensue justice is done.