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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) traditional ruler, the Gomo of Kuje, Alhaji Dr Haruna C Jibrin, and the coordinator of a football talent hunt, Bidwell Nsofor, have made a passionate appeal to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to invite for trial, the skilful players discovered during the tournament.
The grand finale of the maiden edition of the annual soccer tournament, was held last weekend at the Kuje Area Council.
Commenting on the intention of the talent hunt, Nsofor said: “The Gomo Football Competition, the maiden edition of the annual youth soccer development fiesta is a product of research conducted in the Kuje kingdom aimed at showcasing highly intelligent soccer stars in the making.
“The sole intention is to discover talents in abundant in the Area Council, develop and market them globally. At the end of the tournament, we discovered no fewer than 12 brilliant players that can make many of the national team.
“My happiness are the discovered players and we are pleading with the football administrators to harvest the talents discovered in this tournament,” Nsofor pleaded.
On the challenges, he said: “I have to note that getting financial support has not been as easy as anybody envisioned. It was a confirmation of the downturn of the economy. Previously, a good idea like this would attract a very massive financial support, but I regret to inform you that we did not have that.”
Expressing happiness over his involvement in the talent hunt, the traditional ruler told newsmen: “I feel overwhelmed that such a tournament is organised after my name. It is one of the programmes designed to keep the youths busy.”
“I want to encourage youths in this Area Council to play football because the game is capable of keeping them busy and making them champions.
“As long as I am alive, I will continue to bankroll the tournament. I will ensure that the subsequent ones will be better than this one. I sincerely please with the NFF to give the discovered players trial chance. I thank the organisers, especially the coordinator, Bidwell Nsofor,” he noted.
While Gideon Ezra won the most valuable player, Mohammed Baba Sheda, was honoured as the first runners-up and Ohajekwu Samuel Emeka, the captain of Rubochi ward, received the trophy from the monarch.
