Match-fixing forced me out of Nigerian football- Former Enyimba keeper Fatawu Dauda alleges

Former Enyimba goalkeeper and Ghanaian International Fatawu Dauda has revealed in a damning interview that he left the People’s Elephant and the Nigerian Professional Football League due to the widespread corruption that plagued the league.

The 37-year-old Dauda featured for Enyimba between 2016 and 2019, representing the two-time African champions domestically and on the continent. He joined the club from Ghanaian side Ashanti Gold.

In an interview with Ghanaian channel Angel TV, Fatawu Dauda was of the opinion that his team in the Nigerian league had many players who were willing to sabotage games for their personal monetary benefit. This came to be as a result of the poor welfare of players by the club and the league, forcing them to find other ways to make money for themselves.

The 26-cap Ghana international stated that match-fixing was what made him leave the Nigerian league.

“There’s one particular reason why I finally decided to leave Enyimba FC. It’s all because of betting. Betting can completely destroy football”

“You know Nigeria is a big country. Sometimes, we can be on the road for two days traveling for an away game. We will go and lose a game but when we come on the bus, you’ll see some players happy”

“You’ll see some players pressing their phones,
checking score lines of other league games. I later got to find out from one of our guys that some of the players in the team were betting on our matches”

“They were fixing the games. It was shocking. It was the reason I decided to leave because I can’t be part of this and it was a waste of time playing in games when some people have already planned the outcome” Fatawu Dauda said.

Dauda currently features for Legon Cities FC in his native Ghana. The former Enyimba goalkeeper won the Nigerian Professional Football League in 2019 with Enyimba before leaving the club.