The Super Eagles have received strong charges from Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the president of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Melvin Amaju Pinnick for victory against Benin Republic this weekend in Porto Novo.
Megasportsaena.com repots that, although the Eagles will be guests of The Squirrels in Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, both Sanwo-Olu and Pinnick are of a view that only victory would be good enough for the three-time African champions.
The governor declared as much during a dinner he hosted for the Eagles at Lagos House, Marina, where he also disclosed that his administration is committed to improving sports activities in the state and promised to support the team to the fullest.
He tasked the technical crew led by Gernot Rohr to motivate the players, who he tasked on the need to work tirelessly in order to defeat Benin Republic on Saturday and then return to Lagos to defeat Lesotho on Tuesday at Teslim Balogun Stadium.
While going on to pleasantly surprise Eagles’ coordinator, Patrick Pascal, who was a member of the gold medal-winning Olympic Games team at Atlanta ’96, by giving him a three-bedroom apartment at Prince Abiodun Ogunleye Housing Estate in Igbogbo, Ikorodu, Sanwo-Olu said he is excited that the Eagles will play a competitive march in Lagos after 20 years’ absence.
Sanwo-Olu retorted: “When it was said that we are going to have the match in Lagos, we saw it as an opportunity to rewrite our history again. We are supporting sporting activities in different parts of Lagos so that we can get younger ones that will be coming behind and after you so that Nigeria can get back her glory.
“Sport is a unifier for all of us. Sport is a detribalized means of identification. Sports speak no language, it speaks no tradition, it speaks no religion. It is something that usually heals our country.
“Even when things are down when we have security issues and all sorts of negative things in the country, you can use sports and football to heal that wound for us. And it is on that note that I want to charge you, encourage and appeal to you to do everything you can to win the matches.”
On his part, Pinnick thanked Sanwo-Olu for agreeing to host the match in Lagos and praised the governor for many ongoing youth development schemes in the state, then added: “I believe the Eagles will not only win in Porto Novo, they will come back and beat Lesotho and still play many more matches in Lagos going forward.”
