Three members of newly promoted Nigeria Professional Football League side Kwara United sustained serious injuries when the team’s coach was involved in an auto crash on Wednesday.
United were returning to their base in Ilorin after participating in the Nigerian National League (NNL) Super Four tournament which climaxed in Lagos on Tuesday but suffered the set-back in Ibadan, Oyo State capital shortly after having a stopover.
According to Kwara United’s team manager Jimoh Oke, the incident happened in the ancient city of Ibadan, the largest city in West Africa. “We left Lagos this morning (for Ilorin) after the Super Four and when we got to Ibadan, we stayed at a clear place to urinate and as we took off, not quite up to two, three minutes, one small vehicle just came and ran into our bus,” begun Oke to www.aclsports.com
“In an attempt for our driver to swerve and dodge him, there was an already parked trailer by the roadside and that was how he hit that trailer,” he narrated. Oke spoke with us on his way back from the hospital where the injured members on board were taken to and he confirms there was no deaths recorded.
“We thank God there are no deaths, we have like three serious injuries and I’m on my way back to where the incident happened from the hospital.”
United are due to face Niger Tornadoes at home in the opening day of the 2017/18 Nigeria Professional Football League and many football followers have began to wonder if this incident would not lead to the postponement of their Match Day One encounter. Oke will not be drawn into that as of yet.
“I can’t talk on that (whether they will play on Sunday or not) now, but we have chartered another bus for the other members of the team to go home. We must thank the Team Manager of Shooting Stars of Ibadan (that recently relegated from the NPFL) for also offering to assist us during this incident,” said Oke.
Kwara United lost to Remo Stars on Monday in the semi-final of the NNL Super Four which was won by Go-Round FC on Tuesday.
