Sports
Gov Okowa Receives Pitch Award
President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Melvin Pinnick on Wednesday in Asaba presented the award of Football Friendly Governor of the Year to Governor Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa of Delta State.
Governor Okowa won the award at the sixth edition of the Nigeria Pitch Awards held in Asaba on Saturday, but neither the Delta State number one citizen nor the NFF supremo were present at the occasion.
Pinnick, also the 1st Vice President of the Confederation of African Football, was summoned to France as a result of some issues related to CAF, and left Asaba on the eve of the awards, which held at the Golden Tulip Hotel hours after the Nigeria/Zimbabwe pre-AFCON 2019 send forth friendly at the Stephen Keshi Stadium. NFF 1st Vice President, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi represented Pinnick at the event.
“I am happy to present this award to Your Excellency, knowing that you are fully deserving of the gong going by what you have done for Nigerian Football in the past one year,” Pinnick said as he presented the award trophy and certificate to Governor Okowa.
Governor Okowa and his administration have hosted several activities of the NFF in the past one year, including four matches of the Super Eagles (Vs Uganda in November 2018; Vs Seychelles in March 2019; Vs Egypt in March 2019 and; Vs Zimbabwe in June 2019); one match of the U23 National Team (Vs Libya in March 2019); the Annual General Assembly of the NFF in October 2018 and; a pre-Extraordinary General Assembly of the NFF in August 2018.
The amiable governor has also handsomely rewarded players and officials of the Super Eagles on more than one occasion. His administration also sponsors several Clubs in the various Leagues in the country – a channel for youth empowerment.
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.
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