Nigerian Football
African Games hero, Sanni Mohammed in tears as Super Stores honour 1973 Green Eagles
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
“The labour of our heroes past shall not be in vain” is a line in the Nigerian national anthem. However, the seven living members and dependants of the other 13 footballers of the 20-man Green Eagles that won the gold medal of the 2nd All Africa Games in 1973 may not agree.
Fifty years down the line, they were never recognised since their historic feat. The gold medal of the 1973 All Africa Games was the first continental honours that Nigeria got in football.
What the players got was just a photo-shoot opportunity and breakfast with the Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon. Sadly, since their feat 50 years ago, no Nigerian team has been able to win the All Africa Games gold medal.
After 50 years, Stationery Stores FC that had three players in the squad decided to honour their trio of Haruna Ilerika, Yakubu Mambo and Sanni Mohammed – Stationery Stores’ players at the time – along with the rest of the team.
Sadly among the trio, only Sanni Mohammed, now domiciled in Ghana, is alive and was in attendance at the modest recognition that the Super Stores Supporters Trust organised on Nigeria’s in Independence Day at Freedom Park in Lagos.
Sanni Mohammed, the midfielder in the 1973 squad burst into tears as he was called upon to receive a certificate of honour and a plaque.
He was overwhelmed with emotion as he battled to hold back tears. He explained to Sports Village Square that he remembered all his colleagues at the time and the bond that held them.
He counted himself luck to be among the seven that are alive and wondered how the environment would had been, if all of them were to have assembled.
His award was presented to him by Head of Service, Lagos State Secretariat, Bode Agoro, who incidentally was also a former Stationery Stores player, but of a different generation.
Bode Agoro, Lagos State Head of Service, also a former Stores’ player presents plaque to Sanni Mohammed
There have been no governmental recognition for the pioneers, although subsequent generations of national team players have been rewarded.
Sanni Mohammed travelled by road from Accra purposely to attend the event. Born of a Ghanaian mother and Nigerian father, he said he opted to play for Nigeria and Ghanaians were surprised about how he firmly held the midfield in the opening match of the All Africa Games on 8 January 1973.
He said he was and still committed to Nigeria and Stationery Stores, hoping to see the club regain its esteem. He told the audience that he had set up a Stores supporters club in Ghana and hoped that similar wings should emerge from Nigerian cities as it was in the 1970s and 1980s.
The late Nigerian midfield maestro, Haruna Ilerika was represented by two of his daughters, Sheri and Zeinab Ilerika.
President of the Stationery Stores Supporters Trust, Adebayo Olowo-Ake said that the Independent Day event was the fourth that his outfit had organised since setting up the trust in 2015. He promised that more recognitions will be organised in due course.
The Nigeria U17 women’s team has been given incentives to make it to the Women’s World Cup for the eighth time.
The team, Flamingos, who arrived in Algiers in the early hours of Wednesday aboard a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul, are highly inspired by the imminence of another FIFA World Cup ticket as well as further financial windfall from the Nigeria Football Federation and billionaire business mogul Kunle Soname.
Soname gifted the young players and their officials the sum of N4 million (one million naira for every goal) following their commanding win over the North Africans at the Remo Stars Stadium on Saturday, while the NFF gave out the sum of N2 million (five hundred thousand naira for every goal).
President of NFF, Ibrahim Musa Gusau and Soname have both confirmed that the same financial incentives are in place for the second leg in Blida on Friday.
“Our objective is clear – to win the FIFA World Cup ticket. That is the big motivation.
“Yet, we have been further incentivised by the monetary rewards. My girls will go all out on Friday night,” Head Coach Bankole Olowookere said.
Olowookere, who led the Flamingos to their last two World Cup ventures, will most likely rely on first-leg two-goal heroine Queen Joseph, lone-goal scorer Zainab Raji and Kaosarat Olanrewaju to start at the fore, with Shakirat Moshood, Muinat Rotimi and Philomena Isaiah supplying the passes from the midfield.
Goalkeeper and captain Christiana Uzoma and defenders Azeezat Oduntan, Hannah Ibrahim, Christiana Sunday and Jumai Adebayo are also likely to start.
The Confederation of African Football has selected Cameroonian official Marie Noelle Etong to be the referee, with her compatriots Marcelle Teikeu and Innocentia Ntangti as assistant referee 1 and fourth official, respectively, while Chadian Ngarassoum Victorine will be assistant referee 2.
Oumou Souleymane Kane from Mauritania will be the commissioner, and Sabelo Maphosa-Sibindi from Zimbabwe will be in the role of referee assessor.
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Former president of the initially 15-member West African Football Union (WAFU), Chief Jonathan Boytie Ogufere, has expressed his heartfelt condolences over the recent death of former national team captain and coach, Christian ‘Chairman’ Chukwu.
He remarked that the erstwhile Enugu Rangers’ defence stalwart will ‘be dearly missed’. In a personally signed letter of condolence, Ogufere described Chukwu, who died on Saturday, April 12, in Enugu after a brief illness at 74, as a ‘hero of our time and a friend’.
The nonagenarian recalled with nostalgia how he nearly recruited the young Chukwu for his P & T Vasco da Gama Football Club of Enugu, adding he was impressed with how the ‘Field Marshal Christian Chukwuemeka ‘Chairman ‘ Chukwu (MFR), conducted himself throughout his career as he led both the national team, the then Green Eagles and his beloved Enugu Rangers to many conquests.
“I join numerous others to mourn the transition of the legendary Christian Chukwu, a hero of our time and friend,” the Ugbugba of Okpe Kingdom wrote.
“As one of the young academicals discovered after the end of the Civil War in 1970, I tried to enlist into my club, the P & T Vasco da Gama Football Club of Enugu but he was fair and frank in informing me that he had already joined Enugu Ranges Football Club, and I respected that attitude. From the rivalries between the two clubs, his exploits as a central defender were very visible.”
He continued: “Christian Chukwu emerged at the national level as a trustworthy and formidable captain of the national team who led by example.
“He was one of the heroes during the Golden age of Nigerian football when I was one of the Board Members of the Nigeria Football Association under the chairmanship of Chief Sunday Dankaro as Nigeria won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1980 for the first time where Christian Chukwu as captain of the Green Eagles was declared the best player of the tournament. He led the national team in several battles, which endeared him to millions of football lovers.
“After his playing days, he showed his talents through coaching in Nigeria and abroad.
“I express my sincere condolences to the family he left behind, the football family and the country in general. He will be dearly missed.
“May the good Lord grant his noble soul eternal rest,” he noted.
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Remo Stars are coasting to what will be their greatest moment ever, a win of the Nigeria Premier Football League title, as they recorded a 1-0 win over Shooting Stars in Ibadan in a match played behind closed doors.
In doing so, they achieved their sixth double of the season, having earlier beaten Shooting Stars in the first stanza of the league.
They maintained the seven-point lead over second-placed Rivers United, who also beat Sunshine Stars 1-0 in Port Harcourt.
After a ding-dong affair, Alex Oyowah scored the vital goal for Remo Stars from a right-wing cross from Ismail Sodiq.
In another match, Ikorodu City continued to work tenaciously to obtain a continental ticket as they held El Kanemi to a 1-1 draw.
SUNDAY RESULTS
- El Kanemi 1-1 Ikorodu City
- Niger Tornados 1-1 Bayelsa United
- Heartland 0-0 Kwara United
- Plateau United 1-0 Akwa United
- Rivers United 1-0 Sunshine Stars
- Shooting Stars 0-1 Remo Stars
- Bendel United 1-1 Nasarawa United
SATURDAY
- Katsina United 0-0 Abia Warriors
- Enyimba 2-1 Kano Pillars
- Lobi Stars 2-4 Enugu Rangers
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