Nigerian Football
Makinwa Surprisingly Claims ABS’ Success
BY WALE MUSTAPHA.
Ahead the last match day of the season, Abubakar Bukola Saraki (ABS) FC Coach, Henry Makinwa undertook a self assessment of the side’s performance and rated it as successful by the team’s set objectives.
He didn’t exactly say what that objective is or are but it is general knowledge that the club is on the brink of relegating to the lower division with a match away to Nasarawa United.
ABS returned to the top flight last season from the second tier and started their campaign on a bright note with impressive results and exciting performances.
But the Ilorin based club had a dip in form midway through the season and shipped further down to relegation belt and are hoping to beat the drop going into the final day of this season.
Keen observers would reckon that the season has been miserable for ABS, tagged as giant killers at some point in the campaign but Makinwa won’t accept that rating and has argued that the club is champions in their class and targets.
Yet he admitted there have been issues with funding which he attributed to be the major setback for the club to compete against better funded opponents.
“It has been a very productive, positive season, and we are champions in terms of achieving our primary objectives which is empowerment for the youths.
“We are playing with school boys, we have almost 15 to 17 calls for these boys to go to another bigger clubs, the objective is achieved already, that’s what the proprietor (Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki) wanted, to empower the youths.
“We have Igbos, Hausa, Yoruba, Efik, Tivs, everybody in the team to be empowered, but he said to us, pick the best legs irrespective of his tribe, on merits and let them empower themselves and their families and I think that one is achieved.
“To compete with others is another question because we are playing and competing with millionaire clubs, they have a lot of millions to buy players, pay big bonuses and salaries to pick the best players all over Africa.
“FC IfeanyiUbah has almost seven to eight international players, Akwa United, Enyimba Int’l, Plateau United all have big players, so it’s very tough for us to compete,” Makinwa told npfl.ng
Makinwa who played in Spain for Rayo Vallecano insists the blame for ABS’ dismal season should spread across everyone who has played any role in the club including himself.
He however called for more focus, support and commitment for the club to end the season on a high.
“Of course I won’t be able to say that, others could see it, maybe it’s from players but I have my fault as well and everybody with the club has his own part of the fault including the management, the players, all of us.
“But I have tried to do things correctly on merit according to my thinking and philosophy, so if I’ve done anything wrong I don’t know may be people would see.
“If I have the chance to be here again, I will do the same thing I’ve been doing, nothing wrong about it, but if we (ABS FC) have money to compete I bet you I will win the league without losing a game, if I have some money other (clubs) have and the players I wanted to have I will win the league unbeaten.
“I’m happy we got over our last home game of the season with a win (ABS FC came back from Angola down to beat Abia Warriors 2-1 last Sunday in Ilorin) It was a tension soaked match and it was a big game because we were a bit psychologically not stable, Abia were too physical but I was positive we would turn it around and happy we did.
“We are still pushing it (survival from relegation) to the last day in the league, still the same intention, same approach, but with a renewed focus, commitment and support from everybody in the team, we hope to win there (against Nasarawa United in Lafia) and we hope other teams get bad results so that we can stay up,” concludes Makinwa.
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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