NPFL Pardons Boboye, Lifts 17-Game Touchline Ban

The Nigeria Premier Football League board has suspended the touchline ban placed on Bendel Insurance head coach Kennedy Boboye, clearing him to return to the dugout just days before the start of the new season, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

Boboye was handed a 17-game ban in March after the tactician was alleged to have assaulted match officials at the end of the matchday 32 clash against Plateau United last season.

Although Boboye denied any wrongdoing, he missed the remaining six games of the 2025/26 season due to the ban.

However, the league body has now cleared him to return before the start of the 2026/27 season following a review of his case.

In a letter to the club in response to their letter of apology and appeal for leniency, the NPFL Board confirmed that it had reviewed the case and the sanctions imposed on the coach.

“Your good conduct in the intervening period of the sanction has been taken into consideration and counted as a positive for you,” the letter read.

“Your past service to the country as a player and a technical member of the national team is also being recognised in reviewing the case.

“The Board has therefore elected to suspend the rest of the remaining period of your sanction. However, the punishment will be served out should you be involved in similar conduct in the next one season.

“You are expected to be of exemplary behaviour in your role as a coach of an NPFL club, as players and junior coaches view you as a role model.”

Following the review, Boboye has been cleared to return to the Benin Arsenal bench, beginning with the opening fixture of the 2026/27 season against Warri Wolves in Benin on Sunday, August 30.

Boboye was appointed by Bendel Insurance in October 2025 and guided the club to a fifth-place finish in the 2025/26 season, missing out on a continental spot by four points.