Sportsbiz247.blogspot.com reports that the two-day event attracted
six teams, including LGEA Central School, Kaiama, Kwara State, Emmanuel
Anglican Nursery & Primary School, Okesa, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State; Baptist
Government Primary School, Oshogbo Osun State; X-Planter Nursery & Primary
School, Ikorodu, Lagos State; Amigo Largema Military Cantonment Primary School,
Borno State and Ekofootball Future Stars, Lagos State.
At the end of the
competition, Emmanuel Anglican Primary School emerged champions, defeating LEGA
Central School, Kwara State 5-4 on penalties after coming from 2 goals down in
a thrilling encounter.
Baptist Government Primary
School won the third-place match after spanking X-Planter boys from Ikorodu 3-1
on the final day.
In an exhibition match, the
boys from Borno State pipped Eko Future Stars 1-0 – a shock result even though
the Future Stars had defeated their opponents 4-1 in another match 24 hours
earlier.
Speaking with SportingLife
after the finals, Akinwunmi who is also the Chairman of the Lagos State
Football Association said he derives joy putting smiles on the faces of the
kids.
“Honestly I’m overwhelmed
and I can’t express it. All I need to do is look at the faces of these kids and
for the past two days, it has been joy unlimited for me. One thing we don’t see
here is the hope in their eyes. Most of these kids are bereft of hope and they
are quite happy that someone acknowledges their talents and recognise they need
to go to school. So I’m quite happy.
“My take home is that
everybody here can do at least this for the indigent children, the better.
Because if we are not careful, we find that the kids whom we think are not in
our class, are the majority and our kids are the minority. So why don’t we
bring them to the level of our kids for all of them to live in harmony and
Nigeria will be better for it? Then we have talented footballers and we can’t
afford to lose them. We must catch them young and nurture them, monitor them
and ensure that they are educated.
“The support I got today was
overwhelming. I came in here expecting that people will come here and give me
N20, 000 to N50,000. I’m quite impressed I will be honest with you. With the
way people have supported here and the amount of money that we put into the
account is amazing.
“I’m not stopping there, I
also want to appreciate the press, they had been fantastic all round and that
is why we are getting these support,” Akinwunmi noted.
Among dignitaries who
attended the finale on Sunday, were President of Nigeria Football Federation,
Mr Amaju Pinnick, who opted to sponsor three of the children in the victorious
squad through his Brownhill Foundation, while also giving the sum of N200,000
to the boys from Borno State; Akinwunmi and his lovely wife Jumoke; NFF Board
Members Babagana Kalli and Aisha Falode; NFF Congress members Taiwo Ogunjobi,
James Odeniran, Ganiyu Majekodunmi and Tade Azeez; Chairman of the Lagos State
Sports Commission Kweku Tandoh; DG, Lagos State Sports Commission Babatunde
Bank-Anthony; Lagos FA members Dotun Coker, Mojeed Adegbindin, Wale Joseph and
Liameed Gafaar; senior special assistants to Governor Ambode, Bolaji Yusuf and
Adeyinka Adeboye; former Nigeria captains Mutiu Adepoju and Friday Ekpo;
Channels TV’s Steve Judo and; leading lights of the Sports Editors Forum.
At the end, a cheque for the
sum of N500, 000 was handed over to the boys from Borno State, while Jeremiah
Adekanbi (Baptist Boys, Osun); Akeem Bashiru (Emmanuel Anglican Nursery and
Primary School, Ekiti); Mahmood Muyideen (LGEA Central School, Kwara) and;
Israel Oke (X-Planter Primary School, Ikorodu) were handed cheques for N150,000
each in scholarships.
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