Nigerian Football
DELTA FA ELECTIONS: ON JUNE 13, WE STAND, SAYS EDEME FULUDU
The newly elected chairman of the Delta Football Association, Edema Fuludu, has stated that the June 13, 2019 elections in Warri, Delta State, were a very credible one.
He added that it was conducted with strict adherence to the NFF Statutes.
The ex-international, who spoke in Warri, Friday morning, noted that, all due process was followed in the elections process at the Victory View Hotel, Warri.
“Everything we did was with the approval of the Nigeria Football Federation.”
Stressing that: “The date, time, venue, Electoral Committee and delegates for the elections were all approved by the NFF.
“We had a list of 32 delegates out of which 25 voted with seven delegates believed to be supporters of the Delta Sports Commission chairman, Tonobuk Okowa, staying away without excuses. I
“It was their choice to stay away after I refused to accept Tonobuk’s proposal to step down and run for vice chairman.
“Everything the Delta Sports Commission have been doing is government interference. The Commission chairman, has been directing the Delta FA secretary, Azuka Ogosi, to write all sorts of letters against the DFA preparations for elections. And the secretary wrote letters and notifications without consulting with me the Acting chairman nor with members. This is unacceptable.”
He added: “At a point, the DFA secretary a civil servant in the Delta Sports Commission, sent a list of delegates purportedly compiled by the Delta Sports Commission to Abuja, but this was rejected by the NFF, that insisted that the list of delegates should come from the DFA.
“Another time, Ogosi, came up with three different dates for elections without the input of DFA members.
“These were also rejected by the NFF. Even the letter written by the secretary of the DFA after our elections yesterday, calling the DFA delegates group of friends was not authorized by members of the DFA.
“You can imagine the DFA having elections in Warri and the Secretary was in Asaba writing letter as directed by the Sports Commission chairman. It’s the height of government interference which the NFF Statutes object to.”
The former Acting chairman of the DFA disclosed that when a big wig of the NFF suggested that the DFA elections should moved until after the 2019 Nations Cup, despite being a personal opinion, it ran against the directive of the NFF Emergency Congress that all states’ FA elections must hold between May 28 and June 30, 2019. “We all know that the Nations Cup will end in July.”
The Delta FA Congress took place on Thursday in Warri and it was followed by the elections.
At the polls, Edema Fuludu emerged Chairman defeating Ebi Baba by 20 votes to four, Ikpeba Victor won the Vice Chairman’s election with 23 votes by acclamation after being nominated unopposed.
Other elected board members are: Prof Emma Okocha, Mrs. Ejiro Babafemi, Chukwuma Ochonogor, Julius Ijeh, Chief Mrs Awhana Mercy, Comrade Sheriff Mulade and Julius Atete.
Shortly before the elections, the Congress endorsed the removal of the Delta FA Secretary, Azuka Ogosi, for gross insubordination, anti association and sabotage. To replace Ogosi, the Congress of the DFA with a unanimous vote approved the appointment of Stanley Orukpe as the new secretary of the DFA.
The newly elected board of the Delta Football Association was inaugurated Thursday afternoon at the Victory View Hotel in Warri.
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
The Nigerian Premier Football League (NPFL) gets to its climax this weekend, especially on Sunday, when the title could be won and one of the other two tickets for the continental competition could be confirmed.
Also, one or two other teams may get their visas to the lower league.
Remo Stars will become the Nigerian champions if they win their home match against Niger Tornadoes in their fortress in Ikenne.
History seems about to repeat itself. It was Niger Tornadoes that Remo Stars beat on 17 July 2022 to get their first ever continental ticket to feature in the following season’s CAF Confederation Cup.
This Sunday, Niger Tornadoes may again be Remo Stars’ launchpad into the league title. What a season it has been for the club that has led the Nigerian league for the longest duration.
They were leaders into Christmas 2024. They were leaders at the end of 2024 and leaders into 2025 as they became the first club to have a double after beating Akwa United home and away.
No team won more away matches than Remo Stars this season. They won five matches away from home. At home, they won 15 of their 17 matches, making Ikenne a fortress. Only Rivers United and Katsina United, who drew their matches, escaped defeat in Ikenne.
With 20 wins, no team has won more matches this season than Remo Stars.
With the title almost decided, and the runners-up awaiting confirmation, the battle zone is the contest for the third place where seven teams are in contest.
The most ferocious of the battle will be that of the surprise team of the season, Ikorodu City and rejuvenated Abia Warriors.
They occupy third and fourth positions respectively. Yet at the onset of the season, those positions looked unlikely. Ikorodu City were the punching bag for the other teams, losing home and away and got their first league point only after five matches.
Today, the continental door is invitingly open to them. What about Abia Warriors, who began the season with a 2-0 home loss to Remo Stars?
They looked like going for their pound of flesh when they suddenly went two goals up against Remo Stars in Ikenne. But Remo Stars fought gamely back to snatch a nervy 3-2 win.
Abia Warriors will be hosting the initial top three runners, Shooting Stars who suddenly slumped in fortunes. But a win by the Ibadan team may reignite their continental aspirations.
Also jostling for a possible top-three finish are the quartet of Bendel Insurance, Kano Pillars, Enugu Rangers and Enyimba.
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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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