Thursday was a sports day in Asaba The Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Gbenga Elegbeleye was there to extol the virtues of sports development and to thumb up for Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan for his huge investment in sports that he said has made Delta the number one state in sports.The commissioning of Delta Football Association House named after Patrick Okpomo, the former Secretary General of the Nigeria Football Association, attracted Elegbeleye and many other teeming football technocrats to Asaba.
Aminu Maigari, President of the Nigeria Football Federation, his Vice Mike Umeh, Technical Committee Chairman, Chris Green and some members of his Executive Board. FA Chairmen from different parts of the country graced the occasion.
“This is beautiful, it is better than what we have in Abuja as the FA house,” Elegbeleye said while commending Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan as a pillar of sports, not only in Delta State but also in Nigeria. Elegbeleye told the Governor that the NSC was full of appreciation for the national athletes produced by Delta ,whose sports programmes he highly commended. He said that with such support from Delta, it would be a surprise if Nigeria “does not win medals at the next Olympic Games in Rio.”
Chairman of the Delta Sports Commission, Amaju Pinnick had enumerated the number of medals Delta athletes won at the Commonwealth Games and in the African Athletics Championships and was proud of the performance of Delta athletes in international events.
Uduaghan in his brief remark said that the results Nigeria was reaping now were the fall-out of the sports summit Delta held in Asaba, after the failure in the London Olympics. He told Elegbeleye and Maigari not to be shy to ask for his assistance as far as sports was concerned.
“Anything you want me to do for Nigerian sports, don’t hesitate to approach me. I’ll do it for you.” Ovation followed. And facing Maigari and his men, Uduaghan said, “the future of Nigerian football is in this room. You all have a challenge to raise the game. The two results Eagles have had in the ongoing Nations Cup qualifiers should be a wake-up call for everybody. I hope that the results are enough for you to reflect on what happened and plan to turn the tide.”
Earlier, at the commissioning of the Okpomo House, John Oganwu, an ex international, described the event as historic and commended the vision of the Delta FA. Special tribute was paid to Dere Otubu, the man who trained Amaju Pinick in football administration and whom Amaju served as Vice Chairman before he assumed the mantle of leadership in Delta football. “I’m happy that Amaju learned well. There are those who we will expose and they still don’t get it,” Otubu said. Dominic Oneya, the former NFA chairman, Paul Bassey of CAF and FIFA were among the top football men around.