Angry fans of Abia Warriors FC alleging  biased officiating went berserk on Wednesday at the Umuahia Township Stadium,  attacking Centre Referee, Abubakar Ago,  and assistant referee, Azeez Orowole.

The fans who  overwhelmed the few policemen on duty refused all entreaties even from the Chairman of Abia Warriors, Chief Emeka Inyama. 

The incident took place at the end of a midweek encounter between the Umuahia-based club and visiting Ifeanyi Uba FC.

The match, which many fans considered a must win for relegation-bound Abia Warriors, ended in a 1-1 draw.

The referees were attacked on the pitch shortly after the blast of the final whistle signalling the end of the match.

It took the perseverance and frantic efforts of the police to rescue the referees from the mob.

A detachment of anti-riot police from the Central Police Station, Umuahia, was later deployed to the stadium to restore normalcy.

The police fired teargas canisters to disperse the fans before escorting the referees and other match officials to their hotel.

Some of the fans alleged that the 85th minute equaliser by Ifeanyi Uba's forward, Kojo Baah, was scored with hand.

They also expressed disenchantment with the assistant referee for signalling an infringement against the home team.

The resultant spot kick was converted into a goal by the visitors.

Abia Warriors lone goal came at the 48th minute after Effiong Ndifereke beat Ifeanyi Uba's defender outside the penalty box to fire a grounder into the net.

The fans expressed the fear that the draw compounded the woes of Abia Warriors, which currently are on  17 points.

In his reaction,  Inyama described the incident as "a bad day for Nigerian football."

He nonetheless  assured the club's fans that the club would not go on relegation, saying, "we will fight to the end and I can assure our fans that we will not go on relegation."