Tinubu @ 70th: Okocha, Kanu, Rufai, 14 others for novelty match

No less than 17 ex-internationals have been lined up to participate in a novelty football match to commemorate the 70th birthday anniversary of former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu.

Umar Mohammed, Director-General of Tinubu Support Group (TSG), which is organising the event, disclosed this at the TSG Campaign Office in Abuja on Tuesday.

He listed the players to include Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Okocha, Peter Rufai, Tijani Babangida, Mutiu Adepoju, Garba Lawal, Julius Aghahowa, Victor Ikpeba, Uche Okechukwu and Ifeanyi Udeze.

The rest are Taribo West, Victor Agali, Ike Shorunmu, Victor Ezeji, Abiodun Obafemi, Dosu Joseph and Jonathan Akpoborire.

The ex-internationals are to face the Team Asiwaju at the Onikan Stadium in Lagos on Sunday.

The match is part of a series of activities lined up between Sunday and March 29 when Tinubu, now a presidential aspirant in the All Progressives Congress (APC), will turn 70.

“As a frontier of Alhaji Ahmed Tinubu presidential ambition, the management and staff of TSG, in collaboration with the Lagos State government, have perfected plans ahead of the 70th birthday of our principal, the incoming President of Nigeria come 2023,” Mohammed said.

He added that his group would in collaboration with the Lagos State government organise the football match and prayers simultaneously across the six geo-political zones of the country.

The TSG director-general disclosed also that, as part of the activities, awards would be presented to Tinubu by the ex-Super Eagles players and the Kanu Heart Foundation.

He further said the 13th Bola Tinubu Colloquium, an annual high-powered policy roundtable, would hold during the period to commemorate the birthday.

“This is expected to add colour to the birthday celebration and attract prominent APC big shots from all walks of life in preparation for what political pundits have described as a remarkable watershed in the career of a man known to be wielding considerable influence on our country’s political landscape,” Mohammed said.

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Speaking also, Sylvia Ugi, who is the event’s Coordinator/Organiser, assured that all assurances have been received regarding the participation of all the ex-players lined up for the match.

“They have all given us their assurances. This is not our first time of having things like this. In fact, they are all looking forward to the match,” she said.

“It is even an opportunity for the players to see each other again and be together, to re-enact the challenge and pressure of playing together after about 20 or 30 years.”

Ugi added that the event was all about funfair and showing support to a man who has touched the lives of millions of Nigerians in many positive ways.

Rufai, former goalkeeper with the national team and the defunct Stationery Stores FC of Lagos, represented the former players at the media briefing/unveiling ceremony.

The Star