Sports
Clerics Warn Youth Against Sports Betting
Some clerics and coun
sellors in Abuja yesterday warned against sports betting among the youths in the country.
The clerics, who expressed their views in separate interviews with newsmen in Abuja, said that sports betting was becoming rampant among youths.
Pastor Wisdom Christian of Jesus Glory Ministries, Lokogoma, said that gambling was one of Satan’s ruthless weapons against the church and the society.
Christian noted that gambling was usually viewed as a social vice that was not biblical in Christianity, which youths go into because of lack of employment.
He said that gambling could only be addressed through the churches and mosques by bringing the youths together and counselling them against such habits.
“It is a social vice from the enemy against the church and the society.
“It is not biblical and it won’t help our youths in the aspect of going out there to look for jobs.
“We can address this issue only when we gather the youths in our various places of worship to talk with them so that they will take caution.
“We have to make them know that gambling will not take them anywhere and such monies will never last,’’ he said.
He said that Christian parents have a lot of responsibility to guide the upcoming generations to look up to God’s word as the solution to their problems.
Mrs Rose Marcus, a counsellor at the Family Worship Centre, Wuye, advised parents to check their children properly as they grow up.
Marcus urged parents to educate their children on the issue of gambling, so that they would grow up to have a mindset that gambling was not biblical.
Pastor Maiyaki David of the Transformers Adoration Church, said that some of the youths find themselves involved in such act because of the kind of background they had when growing up.
“The rate at which youths go into gambling these days is alarming and not healthy to the society.
“We should organise a special counselling classes for the youths that are already in the habit of doing this so that their minds will be taken away completely from gambling.
“It is not proper for an average youth to think of earning a living from sports betting,’’ David said.
Iwobi spoke to Tidesports source ahead of Nigeria’s crunch playoff semi-final against Gabon on Thursday, November 13, in Rabat, Morocco.
The 28-year-old was reacting to Nigeria’s shaky World Cup qualifying campaign that saw the Eagles finish second in Group C behind South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“We’ve managed to rescue ourselves from the dead,” Iwobi told Tidesports source.
We know we have the players and the abilities to compete against any other country in the world.”
The Fulham star pointed to Nigeria’s star power, highlighting African Footballer of the Year winners Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen as proof of the squad’s quality.
“We have last year’s African best player (Ademola Lookman), the year before that (Victor Osimhen),” he said.
“It’ll be a shame if we don’t make it, but we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it to ourselves.”
Nigeria’s path to the United States, Canada and Mexico has been turbulent, with two coaches departing during the early stages of qualifying before Éric Chelle steadied the ship to steer the Super Eagles into November’s CAF playoffs.
Four nations from the continent – Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Gabon – will vie for a solitary spot to compete in next March’s inter-confederation playoffs, with a view to joining the already nine qualified African nations at the Finals.
It would mark Iwobi’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals and the Super Eagles’ first since the 2018 edition of the competition.
Back then, Iwobi featured in all three games as Nigeria was knocked out in the group stage.
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and Publisher of the Atlantic Bell Online medium, Mr. Celestine Ogolo has advised sports writers in Nigeria to diversify in sports writing and not to concentrate on football reporting alone.
The Deputy National President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Mr. Bonny Nyong has expressed commitment to support sports development and move SWAN forward.