Nigerian Football
SUPER EAGLES CAPTAIN, AHMED MUSA WINS NIGERIAN MUSLIM CELEBRITY OF THE YEAR 2020
Ahmed Musa, the captain of the Nigerian national football team, the Super Eagles, has been named the 2020 Nigerian Muslim Celebrity of the Year.
The 28-year old forward was honoured with the prestigious award by Muslim News, Nigeria’s most authoritative Islamic newspaper.
Making the announcement on Tuesday, the newspaper’s publisher, Mr. Rasheed Abubakar said the former Al-Nassr of Saudi Arabia player is the recipient chosen by the #MNAwards2020 Committee for the 2020 Nigerian Muslim Celebrity of the Year.
#MNAwards is an acronym for Muslim News Nigeria Awards, celebrating Muslim achievers who have excelled and made the Muslim community proud in Nigeria and globally.
Now, into its third year, the 2020 edition of the Awards features additional categories honouring Muslim professionals in media, health, law, finance and entertainment industries.
According to Mr. Abubakar, “There are so many Muslim celebrities in Nigeria. They are in the sports, music and movie industries. Having gone through the profiles and achievements of the shortlisted celebrities, Ahmed Musa met the criteria.”
Highlighting the criteria employed among others, Mr. Abubakar said, “His love for Allah and passion for Islam, which he always showcases to the world while on the pitch, doing what he knows how to do best. He is among the few Muslim footballers in the world who celebrate their goals by performing sujood al-shukr, the Islamic act of prostration of gratitude.
“His philanthropic works to humanity irrespective of their religious or ethnic persuasions, are too many to mention. Being kind and generous to the poor is a great service enjoined by Allah.
“We are aware that he built a multi-million naira sports and fitness centre in Kano and a similar one in Kaduna, to train more youths in various sporting activities. In his efforts to give back to the society, this Muslim Ambassador also unveiled plans to build a multi-million naira school in Jos. We’re proud of these feats,” he added.
Mr. Abubakar who initiated the award in 2018 to celebrate Muslim achievers in different professions also acknowledged Ahmed Musa’s quest for promoting love and peaceful coexistence among members of other religions, tribes.
“However, as human beings, no one is infallible. Hence, this award should serve as a motivation for him. We hope he will be more conscious of his Deen (religion) and spur him to do more for Islam, Muslims and humanity at large,” he added.
Born on 14 October 1992 into a multi-religious family; Ahmed’s father, Alhaji Musa, was a Muslim from Borno State while his mother, Sarah, a second wife, was a Christian from Edo State.
Multiple media reports said the father died when Musa was young, which led to the mother taking care of him and his sisters — numbering 4, one of them reportedly died in 2013.
Ahmed Musa’s loving mother, who once described him “as a philanthropist who has touched so many lives with his wealth, particularly, the widows and orphans, passed on in 2019.
According to information at our disposal, Ahmed Musa is a dedicated and devout Muslim who is very much committed to the affairs of his religion and doesn’t allow his football activities deprive him of taking part in things that concern his religion. He had performed many religious rites including pilgrimage Hajj, the last pillar of Islam.
He is arguably one of the most successful Nigerian footballers. He became the first Nigerian to score more than once in a FIFA World Cup match, after scoring twice against Argentina in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Musa is also the first Nigerian to score in two FIFA World Cup competitions, after scoring twice against Iceland in the group stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He was a member of the Al-Nassr squad that won the Saudi Premier League and Saudi Super Cup, both in 2019.
Having plied his professional football trade in Nigeria, Norway, Russia, England and Saudi Arabia, the former Leicester City star, was reportedly on the verge of returning to the English Premier League with West Bromwich Albion during the winter transfer window.
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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