By Our Correspondent

Nigeria Professional Football League champions Rivers United have been prevented from leaving their hotel by Moroccan police officers ahead of their crucial second round return leg of the CAF Champions League on Sunday

The Pride of Rivers who landed in Morocco in the late hours of Thursday had secured a facility for training on Friday afternoon in preparation for the game.

However, in the process of leaving for the training session, police officers have restricted the players and officials of the team from leaving the hotel citing not getting clearance from the government, in spite of the facility being paid for.

Rivers United are duly scheduled to train at the Mohammed V Stadium on Saturday as mandated by CAF, but, on a good account the team has learnt that they will be prevented from using the said facility tomorrow as well.

The team has so far informed the Nigerian embassy in Morocco of this shocking development through the Nigeria Football Federation who has also informed the Confederation of African Football (CAF) while we wait for their response.

Meanwhile, CAF Head of Security Dr Chris Emeruwa has provided clarifications on what transpired.

According to him, “The team booked a training site in Mohammed which is a city outside Casablanca. In Morocco, the police cannot provide escort services beyond their jurisdiction as such they needed time to contact the Gendarmerie so that they can hand over and allow the Gendarmerie to escort the team to their training site.

“Arranging such escort changeover requires some time and this was why the police asked the team to wait a bit as I type now the team is almost at the training site.”

Meanwhile, after prevented from training Ahead of CAF Champions League 2nd preliminary round 2nd leg tie against Wydad AC on Sunday 16th October 2022, the NPFL Champions who hold 2-1 lead in the first leg,
had a walk around the Oum Palace hotel Casablanca, Morocco where they are lodged.

The aggregate winner of the encounters will qualify for the group stage of the continent’s premier league