It has been confirmed that 5 members of the Kano Pillars Football Club have been hospitalized after their team bus was attacked driving through Abuja, as the League Champions traveled by road to Owerri.
The Kano-based club who are also involved in the CAF Champions League were on their way to the Imo State capital, venue of their March 7 season- opener against Heartland FC in the Nigeria Professional League.
Disclosing this to www.footballlive.ng new recruit John Lawrence; signed from Nasarawa United, confirmed that Super Eagles striker, Gambo Mohamed as was among those caught in the shooting but all 5 victims were taken to an undisclosed hospital for immediate medical attention.
” on our way to our League in Owerri we were attacked by some hoodlums on Abaji road, and five of our players were shot Gambo Mohamed, Osasa, Reuben and Ekpai. Nobody died in the attack and we have no idea which hospital they were taken to. We are travelling through Lokoja now.”
It was also widely reported that the team’s media officer earlier told reporters that unknown gunmen attacked the team bus conveying players and officials of the Masu Gida club on the way to kick start their title defense.
The team’s media officer, Idris Malikawa said: “We are now in Lokoja attending to our players and officials who suffered varying degrees of wound after the bus we were traveling with was attack by armed robbers in Abaji today,”
Asked if the team will still go ahead to honor the Week 1 tie against the Naze Millionaires, Malikawa said they were only bothered about the safety and well-being of their injured players who are now receiving treatment in Lokoja as per Premium times
“Please I can’t say anything about match, we are talking of the life of our players, when we have sorted that we will talk about match,” the Kano Pillars spokesperson stated.
Pillars are the reigning champions of the Nigeria League after completing a hat trick of wins last season. The Kano based club is representing Nigeria in the CAF Champions League where they are through to the next round having recorded home and away wins over South Sudan side Al Malaika.