Supporting football in Nigeria is about patriotism, sacrifice

Samuel Ikpea, President, Nigeria Football Supporters Club (NFSC), on Friday said that the activities of the club by supporting the National teams was based on sacrifice and patriotism by members.

Ikpea made the assertion at the conferment of Ambassadorial honour on a businessman, Chineye Nmezi, at the headquarters of NFSC in Surulere, Lagos.

“Since over 60 years of our existence and traveling all over the world to support Nigeria National teams, we have never been involved or have any reported case of bad behaviour.

“What we do is purely based on patriotism and sacrifice to our country, so anywhere we find ourselves, we keep the laws of the land.

“There is no country that we visit that will not appreciate us.

“We have the reputation as the most organised club all over the world till date and any country we visit always dance to our tunes during the matches,” he said.

Ikpea claimed that as against the insinuation that the club enjoyed much from the Federal Government purse, he insisted that the club was fully self funded.

“There is something unique about NFSC, that the outside world should understand, we are not being sponsored by the Federal Government, although the club is a Nigerian entity.

“We get funded through the sacrifices of our members and this has contributed much to our integrity as good ambassador of Nigeria.

“We use our money and time to support the national teams, and we also look out for sponsors from the private organisations and individuals to support our instrumentalists.

“Sometimes, we also get support from the government as well, but no member of this group can travel to support outside without contributing a dime,” he said.

Ikpea also added that as good ambassador of the country, the citizens must learn to portray the image of the nation in good manner.

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“As good citizens, part of our code is not to say any bad thing about the country either at home or abroad. We don’t join people to pull our country down.

“For us as club, we have many others trying to copy what we do, they are just imitations, they cannot be us because of our uniqueness.

“We are meant to serve the country and anyone joining the club must know what we stand for,” he said.

The recipient of the Ambassadorial position, Chineye Nmezi, said that his reason for joining NFSC was purely out of passion for sports.

“I am here because sports is what I enjoy so much and we cannot enjoy football without the fans.

“NFSC is doing great things, so out of great love, I decided the club to contribute my own quota. I do support so many clubs as well, but charity must begin from home,” he said.

The ceremony was attended by the club’s management, included Secretary General, Victor Olowu; Treasurer, Olumuyiwa Ogbe; Asst. Secretary, Emeka Offoh; Welfare Officer, Kabiru Yusuf; and Chief Whip, Afeez Osholonge.