There will be no criminal prosecution for players and officials of the four Nigerian amateur clubs involved in a combined 146 goals score line earlier this week. The Nigeria Football Federation this week handed down stiff penalties against the offenders. All four clubs were banned for 10 years while the match officials, players and club officials were slammed with life bans from football. But NFF General Secretary Musa Amadu, a lawyer, said the body would not be pursuing criminal charges which could drag on. “We have taken measures that we believe can work under the circumstances here. “What we have done is to treat the case in the football way we know very well and I believe we have handed down sufficient punishment that should serve as a deterrent to others. "The federation can effectively implement the decisions and punishments meted out to these fellows but the other side of the law can drag and become so cumbersome that the objective can become defeated,” Amadu said. Mike Umeh, NFF vice-president and head of the investigation committee added that the inability to find evidence of material inducement also weighed in the decision not to prosecute. “While the winners were desperate to win, the losers were too willing to lose, although the committee could not establish any exchange of money or material inducement. “Circumstantial evidence was overwhelmingly high and points to only one conclusion — that of match fixing of an unprecedented nature — which has brought global embarrassment to Nigeria Football Federation, in particular, and the nation in general.” All eight referees and their assistants — Mohammed Mohammed, S. Chiroma, A. Shina, H. Murtala, Umar Garba, M. Salahudin, Sani Abdul and Hassan Pegit — were given life bans for their roles. The NFF has also said it would publish the full names and photographs of those indicted.