NFF President Alhaji Aminu Maigari
President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Aminu Maigari on
Tuesday inaugurated the Main Organizing Committee of the Dr. Akanu Ibiam Memorial Super Cup competition.
The competition, which is being proposed by Fairplay Sports Agency, managed by Rudder Sports Management, will involve teams in the south eastern part of the country and is expected to be launched in the second week of December 2012.
Speaking at the inauguration, the NFF President Aminu Maigari said the NFF will always support all programmes and projects targeted at positive development of Nigeria football.
He charged the MOC, which is headed by the 1st Vice President of NFF, Chief Mike Umeh and includes Commissioners of Sports of Anambra, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Rivers States, to go into overdrive to secure sponsors and ensure a credible organization of the competition, to the glory of the good name of the late Dr. Akanu Ibiam, a one-time Governor of the old Eastern Region.
“The NFF has endorsed the proposed competition because of the good name of late Dr. Akanu Ibiam and the calibre of persons in the Main Organizing Committee. We believe it is a competition that will contribute to the development of football in our country, and perhaps in future, be taken to the national canvass from the regional level,” said Maigari.
Also speaking at the inauguration, the Anambra State Commissioner for Sports, Dr. Edozie Okey Aroh said the Anambra State government is very much interested in the competition and urged the proponents, Rudder Sports Management, to work assiduously hard to deliver a championship that will be applauded by football lovers around the country.
“We do not want to associate with anything that will not achieve roaring success. To this end, it is important that the MOC works very hard to source for sponsors so that we don’t have a situation where all these elaborate programmes will fizzle out a few weeks down the line.”
Mr. Jacob Onu, Chief Executive Officer of Rudder Sports Management, while introducing the competition, said it will feature teams in the elite as well as amateur cadres in the south eastern part of the country.