Football

Lagos Assembly organized Maiden Speaker’s Cup football tournament

Published

3 years ago

November 8, 2021

Olu Emmanuel

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harps on sportsmanship

Members of the Lagos Assembly have restated their confidence in the leadership of Rt.

Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, as they organized a football tournament to commemorate his forthcoming birthday celebrations.

The Maiden Edition of Speaker’s Cup which was initially conceived by a group of youthful staffers of the Assembly, received a boost as notable lawmakers indicated support for the idea.

In his keynote address to herald the commencement of the week long tournament on Friday, 5th 2021, on the Assembly’s football pitch Hon. Olanrewaju Moshood Oshun reaffirmed the team spirit that exist amidst lawmakers and the unalloyed support they accord him for his leadership prowess especially in the legislative business.

Oshun who is the House committee chairman on Youths, Sports and Social Development representing Lagos Mainland 2, notes that members are in one accord with the Speaker.

“It is to honour the Rt. Hon. Speaker, it is his birthday next week and we are starting it today, he has done well in terms of leadership, in terms of legislative duties, in terms of making sure the state is on the right part and for us to show the world that we are behind him.

“This is the beginning, there is still many others coming in we are working on a competition between Honourable members but you know being the maiden edition, we need a lot of planning.

“It is the first and hopefully by next year it would be bigger, better. I can tell you it is not going to be held here, it is going to be in one of our national stadiums.

“We are featuring eight teams in all, it is a five aside team football match. There is also a cash prize for the first, second and third place winners, but we will keep that secret for now.

“The final is going to played on his birthday which is on the 11th of this month, next week.” Oshun reiterated.

Speaking on the importance of youths development through sports, Osun maintained that,

“the youths are the future of any country and what we are doing today is supporting the dream of the Governor, we want to bring the youths off the streets so that they can start doing something for themselves.

“The Governor is building 1o mini stadia across the state that is to show you the focus of the government.

“We want to make sure that our youths are fully and legally engaged. So that we can have the youths of the future doing something right.

“We are bringing all the Super Eagles matches to Lagos now, we’ve played three matches, we are playing another one against Cape-Verde very soon, we want to develop our youths. It is as simple as that.”

Hon. Rotimi Abiru another ranking member of the house from Shomolu constituency 2 also corroborated Oshun on the importance of the spirit of sportsmanship.

“The initiative is not a bad one, we have admonished the team to be fair, we want fair play here the better team will naturally carry the day same goes for the officiating referees too.

“This is part of bonding as a house, with the support of the committee Chairman on Sports, I can see this is well planned and it is coming up well, I cannot but wish the speaker a happy birthday in advance.”

The Right Honourable Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa in his response on the tournament organized to honour expressed his appreciation while urging all to be actively involved in the activities.

“I am starting by saying thank you to you all for organizing this tournament in commemoration of my forthcoming birthday, I love this.

“It is also a way to bring all of us together, increasing camaraderie, friendship, good relationships and love amongst us.

“The teams are selected based on sincerity and merit and we are here to celebrate each other, this reaffirms our passion in ensuring the all round development of our staffers.

“I urge you all to be part of this is any form you can either by cheering the team on with you songs, clapping and more, at the end of the day whichever team that wins is our team, I pray an injury free tournament to all.”

Team Speaker versus Team LAHASCOM and Team YSSD Versus Team LASLEWA played the first two opening matches

The first match ended 2-0 Team Speaker trounced Team LAHASCOM to emerge the first team to make the semi finals.

The second match between Team YSSD Versus Team LASLEWA ended 3-2 as Team YSSD emerged the second team listed for the semi finals.

The Clerk of the house, Barr. Olalekan Onafeko appreciated the timely response of concerned individuals in putting the tournament together, noting this signals the team spirit that radiates within the ranks of staffers of the Lagos State House of Assembly.

Other dignitaries that were around for the memorable tournament includes, Hon. Femi Saheed (Kosofe 2), Hon. Mojisolaoluwa Alli-Macaulay (Amuwo Odofin 1), Hon. Adedamola Kasunmu (Ikeja 2), Hon. Jude Idimogu (Oshodi 2), Hon. Olawale Abdulsubor (Mushin 2), Hon. Victor Akande(Ojo1), while the Head of Public Affairs Mrs Abisola Branco anchored the programme.