•LMC orders Rangers to pay him N16.7m

By Emma Jemegah and Monica Iheakam

Super Eagles assistant coach Imama Amapakabo was yesterday  detained by police in Abuja for allegedly being in possession of a car and other properties belonging to Enugu Rangers,  several months after he was sacked by Nigerian Professional League club.

Rangers CEO,Christian Chukwu who who confirmed this, said police acted on the request of the Club management  to recover Enugu State government properties still being held by the coach.

“It is three months now since Imama left Rangers after he was relieved of his managerial role. He left with the club’s official car and the keys to his official accommodation, Chukwu began.

“We have written to him three times to return the vehicle and house keys, but he has refused to comply. Right now our chief coach does not have an official car.

“The owner of the house has been asking us to come and remove our things and surrender the keys.

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“But we cannot do that in the absence of Imama who owns the items in the house” the Rangers CEO stated.

The arrest will affect the former youth international who is involved with the CHAN Eagles who are set to begin preparation ahead of their crunch CHAN qualifying match.

Meanwhile, Just as Rangers management ordered the arrest of  the former coach,  for allegedly bolting away with Enugu State government properties, the League Management Company (LMC) has responded by ordering the club to pay the coach a compensation of N16.7 million for wrongful termination of his contract.

The LMC directed Rangers to pay Amapakabo various sums including N14, 560,000 representing his salaries for April to October 2017 and compensation for wrongful termination, N1, 600,000 representing his salary for November and December 2016, N600, 000 which represents arrears of allowances and bonuses and $725 which is international travel allowance owed Amapakabo.

Similarly, the league body also fined the league champions the sum of N5 million after its charged its secretary, Elder Joseph Onwukwe with infractions of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) Rules and Framework in the course of mediation proceedings in the dispute between the club and its former coach, Imama Amapakabo.

Elder Onwukwe has subsequently been banned from all NPFL activities for a period of one year.

He was charged for breaches of Appendix E1.5, Appendix E1.4 (Code of Conduct for Club Officials), C28 and C1 of the Framework and Rules for issuing threats in the course of dispute resolution proceedings involving coach Amapakabo and Rangers as well as for switching off his mobile phone in a bid to refuse to disclose and to evade requested information, constitute attempts to game the system and for refusal to assist in the mediation proceedings when requested to do so, thereby violating Rule C28.