52 year old Ibrahim Chaibou, Niger referee, was on Thursday, January 25,barred from all football related activities for bribery and match-fixing by FIFA. The world’s football governing body, FIFA, also made sure to fine him a sum of 177,000 euros (about $226,000).
Chaibou quickly became famous after awarding several spot-kicks in 2010, in a game between South Africa and Guatemala which sparked an official probe. At the last count, Chaibou’s career were key to revealing how international matches were manipulated for betting scams, forcing FIFA to change the rules for selecting referees after exposing convicted match-fixer Wilson Perumal.
Ex-Fifa investigator, Chris Eaton has quickly spoke about how excited he was and he made this known in his statement where he mentioned that Chaibou was probably the most corrupt referee the game of football has seen. He also claims that Chaidou is a big disgrace to African football.
It should be recalled that it was Chaibou who officiated Nigeria’s match against Argentina in June 2011. During the match, the referee awarded what seems to be a very controversial penalty for a handball against Nigerian defender, Efe Ambrose.
