Former Super Eagles and English Premier League football star Sam Sodje over the weekend condemned the prevalence of paedophiles among youth coaches in Delta State and other parts of Nigeria.

The retired footballer who now shuttles between London and Delta State where he contributes to youth engagement and empowerment through sports is sad that coaches who are entrusted with young children are abusing them sexually and destroying their tomorrow and the society is not doing enough to arrest the criminal practices.

Said Sodje,“Sports is a powerful tool that takes millions out of poverty in Nigeria and elsewhere in the world, the present economic difficulties in Nigeria have led many parents to encourage their children to participate as a get-out-of-poverty vehicle.

 “In their hurry to ensure their wards participate in sports, they give them out without doing due diligence or proper background checks of the so-called youth coaches.

“Majority of the so-called youth coaches are of questionable character and their motive is to sexually abuse these children, not to give them coaching tutorials.”

Sodje who has traversed every nook and cranny of Delta State and other parts of Nigeria in the course of promoting his initiative “Life After Sports” revealed that he has heard too many stories of coaches who engage in the act of sexually abusing children in the course of offering coaching services in the different sports across the country, Delta State not being an exception. 

The former football star isn’t just condemning the act; he’s also demanding urgent action. 

He’s calling for coaches involved in such immoral acts to be named, shamed, prosecuted, and punished similarly to how paedophiles are treated in Europe, America, and other regions.

Sodje also urge parents to do serious background checks about coaches they want to entrust their children with, “I am therefore using the medium to offer strong advice to parents to ensure that they carry out due- diligence from top officials of various sports associations across the country, Delta State inclusive, to ensure that children do not fall prey to the activities of these unscrupulous coaches with their high inclination for immortality and sexual abuses against under-age children. 

“As parents, we have the responsibility and the duty to protect our children from these wicked people that are living amongst us in the society.”

He also called on administrators to “I want to also seriously call on all the administrators of the various sports associations to make it a point of duty to carry out proper character venting of individual coaches that are attached to them and ensure that the bad eggs in their midst are disengaged and specifically banned from working with children to protect our innocent boys and girls for the good of the family, the sports sector and the society in general.”

Sodje said that instead of romancing the issue, we need to call a spade a spade and stop the shenanigans before it gets out of control. 

The football star who played for top and iconic English sides like Brentford, Reading, West Bromwich Albion, Sheffield Wednesday, Watford, Charlton Athletic, Notts County, Portsmouth, and Greek club Skoda Xanthi, said he is ready to lead the fight against this ugly practice in sports and the society at large so that our children that practice and excel in their God’s given talents, without their today and tomorrow being destroyed by paedophiles.

BY JOHNKENNEDY UZOMA

The Technical Manager of Heartland football club of Owerri, Coach Emmanuel Amuneke has expressed regret over the club’s 1-0 away defeat by Shooting Stars Sports Club of Ibadan despite their control of the game in the week 4 NPFL encounter.

Speaking during the post-match interview at the Lekan Salami Stadium Ibadan, Amuneke though described the Sunday encounter as good and intensive despite their loss.

Giving his assessment of the match, Amuneke said that though both teams played well, his team had actually expected it to transform the club.

He blamed the defeat to a loss of concentration especially in the early minutes of the game which had resulted in conceding the goal in the first half 

Coach Amuneke maintained that his boys were equally in total control of the game in the second half yet could not convert numerous chances to their way to goals.

He said that changes in the 40 minutes of the game came immediately because of the challenges the left full-back was having and to stabilize his team’s defensive game.

The Technical Manager while describing Heartland FC as one that has made a long history in football both in the country and beyond,  assured his resolve to bring it back to track in no distant time with different ideas.

Remo Stars retain their top position in the Nigeria Premier League table after beating Enugu Rangers 2-1 in Ikenne on Sunday.

In doing so, they stretched their unbeaten run to four matches. They were almost making it a clean slate but for the penalty kick awarded Enugu Rangers which turned out to be the first goal they conceded this season

In what was a battle of the two top sides of last season, the game lived up to expectations as both sides thrilled the crowd with entertaining football.

After an early exchange of passes, Remo Stars steadily gained control of the match but occasional threats from Enugu Rangers were warded off by Junior Nduka-led defence line thus putting goalkeeper Adebiyi Obassa virtually on holiday for the greater part of the first half.

 But Enugu Rangers’ goalkeeper, Lucky Abdullahi was kept busy. But he lived to expectations as he saved many goal opportunities to end the first half at 0-0.

At that point, both Remo Stars and Enugu Rangers remained the only teams not to have conceded any goal so far this season.

 But barely five minutes into the second half, former Rivers United player, Alex Oyowah broke the deadlock as he volleyed past Rangers’ goalkeeper who had the task of picking the ball from his net for the first time in four league matches.

 The one-goal lead did not last for long. Remo Stars were on the receiving end in the 55^th minute when goalkeeper Obassa, tripped a Rangers striker in the box which resulted in a penalty. converted Augustine Agu Kenechukwu calmly converted the spot kick to make Obassa concede his first goal in Nigeria .

Four minutes later, the crowd went into frenzy jubilation as  Raymond Tochukwu fired a long-range shot that caught the hitherto agile goalkeeper Lucky Abdullahi unaware.   

In the other matches of the day, Rivers United beat Enyimba 2-0 in Port Harcourt.

In Ibadan, Heartland’s woes were compounded after a 1-0 loss to Shooting Stars. El-Kanemi Warriors and Plateau United ended their duel in a 2-2 draw. Also,  Niger Tornadoes and Bendel Insurance played a 1-1.

Abia Warriors secured a 2-0 win against Kano Pillars, Bayelsa United and Kwara United settled for a 1-1 draw, and Katsina United secured a 3-0 win against Lobi Stars.

NPFL RESULTS

• Remo Stars 2-1 Enugu Rangers
• Shooting Stars 1-0 Heartland
• El-Kanemi 2-2 Plateau Utd
• Rivers Utd 2-0 Enyimba
• Abia Warriors 2-0 Kano Pillars

• Bayelsa Utd 1-1 Kwara Utd
• Katsina Utd 3-0 Lobi Stars

• Ikorodu City 1-2 Nasarawa Utd

• Akwa Utd 1-2 Sunshine Stars