Under-17 national team, Golden Eaglets’ former head coaches, Emmanuel Amuneke and Manu Garba have both sent out a passionate appeal to the governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade, for a fulfillment of a promise made to them and their players after winning the FIFA U-17 World Cup of 2013, megasportsarena.com reports.
Before flying out to the oil rich Middle East country for the Cadet Mundial and they returned home with Nigeria’s fourth conquest of the competition, the Eaglets had trained and camped extensively in the Cross River State capital, with Garba as head coach and Amuneke as his assistant.
Although their feat at UAE 2013 was achieved during the past tenure of Liyel Imoke in The Canaan City, Amuneke, who later went on to win the next edition of the same competition two years later as Eaglets’’ head coach, has now joined Garba in reaching out to the present governor for a fulfillment of the state government’s promise.
The former Super Eagles’ winger and 1994 African Footballer of The Year reasoned that it is incumbent on Governor Ayade to fulfil the promises since they were made on behalf of the people and government of Cross River State and it would be noble of him to redeem the pledge expressively given the Eaglets.
It is now seven years since Garba and his crew extended the country’s grip on the cadet trophy with a fourth title, which made Imoke announce during a state banquet on Saturday 15th November 2013 house gifts at a new housing estate in Akpabuyo Local Government Area to the 21 players and 10 officials.
Amuneke, who is also yet to get a house gift pledged to the Super Eagles squad that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1994, added|: “There is no way you want to write the story of the 2013 Golden Eaglets’ World Cup-winning squad without mentioning the people and government of Cross River State because they were part of the team’s success story.
“We would like to use this opportunity to beg current Governor Ben Ayade to fulfill this promise of house gifts to the players and officials of the team when we are all still alive, the labour of our heroes past as a matter of fact, should not be in vain.”
Garba chipped in: “Frankly, it’s unbelievable that we are yet to be given these houses almost 10 years after we won the FIFA U17 World Cup and celebrated by everybody. It’s unfortunate that after all these years, we are still waiting for the houses to be delivered to the players and officials
“In fact, we were most impressed when Senator Imoke said in the presence of the then Minister of Youth and Sports Development Bolaji Abdullahi; former NFF President Aminu Maigari and members of his cabinet, that he preferred house gifts as a lasting legacy than monetary rewards.”
