A fan of English Premiership club, Liverpool, has been arrested by a team of plain clothes policemen from the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba, Lagos for allegedly stabbing a Chelsea fan to death.
P.M.News learnt that an argument ensued between the suspect, Nbige Akpabio, 26, and Boma, while watching a recent encounter between the two premiership sides.
Akpabio confessed to P.M.News that the argument started between him and Boma after Chelsea had conceded some goals to Liverpool.
“Emotions were very high because he had expected his team to win. When Liverpool scored the second goal, Boma was visibly angry and went out to fetch a broken bottle. As I wrestled with him, I mistakenly slashed at his throat,” Akpabio said.
Boma died on the way to the General Hospital, Badagry. His body has been deposited in the mortuary.
Akpabio, as at the time of filing of this report, was still being detained by police pending further investigation.
Soccer tragedy has taken a turn for the worse in recent times across the country, especially in Lagos where soccer fans are crazy about the English Premiership clubs they support. On 29 January, Dodiki Anjorin, a fan, was stabbed in his skull.
Anjorin, 26, who lives at 68 Adeniji-Adele Street, Lagos, loves the English Premiership League (EPL) and supports Arsenal Football Club, popularly called “The Gunners.” His 24-year-old neighbour, Akeem Salami, supports Bolton Wanderers FC.
With an impending English FA Cup clash between both teams, Dodiki and Akeem bragged about their team’s chances. Dodiki, naturally, tipped Arsenal, while Akeem gave the game to Bolton. Soon, passions started flaring. Unaware that he was working Akeem into a murderous rage, Dodiki continued to talk up Arsenal’s chances. Akeem responded by pouring lumps of hot coal on his friend’s body.
Dodiki turned away in pains, trying to knock the coal off his body. But before he could do that, Akeem produced a kitchen carving knife, buried it into Dodiki’s forehead and fled immediately.
He was rushed to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), where the knife was surgically removed.
Before this incident, another one had taken place on 20 January at a viewing centre in FESTAC Town, Lagos. Happy that Liverpool had beaten Chelsea 2-0, a Manchester United fan started taunting a Chelsea fan, who responded with a violent attack. In the process, the Chelsea fan broke over 65 beer bottles for which he was forced to pay before leaving.
Last December at a viewing centre in Ojodu-Abiodun, a community on the boundary between Lagos and Ogun states, an Arsenal fan was beaten up by other viewers, including fellow Arsenal supporters. While watching Arsenal play Sheffield United (with Arsenal trailing by a goal and playing abjectly), the Arsenal fan, frustrated, switched off the television set. Incensed by the action, other viewers set upon him. He was, however, saved by the intervention of a few peace-loving watchers. But immediately the game ended, the fight resumed when the Arsenal fan attacked the first man to hit him with a broken bottle.
Last year on Marian Road, Calabar, Cross River State, over 50 persons were injured in a fight that broke out while watching the UEFA Champions League final between Arsenal and Barcelona.
The fight was provoked by a Barcelona fan’s decision to pull out of a bet he had with an Arsenal fan. With Arsenal scoring the first goal of the match, the Barcelona fan realised he could lose his bet and told the Arsenal fan he was no longer interested.
The Arsenal fan disagreed, arguing that he could not withdraw from the bet since the game was already underway and his team leading by a lone goal. For that, he was attacked by other Barcelona fans. Arsenal fans at the centre decided to save their colleague and it became a free-for-all.
Five years ago, students of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, went wild after an F.A. Cup semi final in which Arsenal defeated Chelsea. The destruction yielded by the rampage forced the university’s authorities to close the school for two weeks.
