Two former VAT Wonder Goal award winners, Pascal Seka and Sikiru Alimi are among the four candidates for the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) Match Day 23 nominations. While Seka last won the award in the 2016/17 season, Alimi was the winner for Match Day 16 of the current campaigns.
The other nominees are Nasarawa United’s Nojeem Olokokun who netted their only goal in the 2-1 defeat to Plateau United and Reuben Bala, one of the scorers of Plateau United’s goal in the same match played in Jos.
Bala’s goal came off a rebound from Itodo’s long throw which was nodded to the edge of the box by a defender and Bala who was lurking pounced to hit a volley that flew straight to the net. The goalkeeper had no chance as his outstretched hand was not long enough to reach the hot shot.
In the same fixture, Olokokun was at the end of a tailored free kick from the right hand and he made a perfect jump to powerfully nod high up to the net with the goalkeeper badly positioned and rooted to his spot.
FC IfeanyiUbah’s Seka exhibited pace, grit and composure to leave Yobe Desert Stars defenders in his wake and he let fly a low long range shot from over 40 meters for the opening goal of the match that ended 1-1 in Damaturu.
Alimi’s trick inside the box left Heartland FC markers that sandwiched him stranded. It was a deft side flick which lifted the ball beyond the defenders to set up a quick volley which he executed to the delight of fans and perhaps, his opponents.
Videos of the four goals have been uploaded on the NPFL website, www.npfl.ng and twitter handle, @lmcnpfl for voting which opens on Thursday, May 24 and ends at midnight of Sunday, May 27.
The VAT Wonder Goal Award is an initiative of the League Management Company (LMC) supported by the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) to deepen club and community engagement through charity support and also promote the benefits of tax payment through the FIRS tax education campaign.
The player whose goal receives the highest number of votes across both platforms wins the N150,000 prize money, 50 percent of which will be donated to a Charity to be nominated by the player. Such Charity must be based within the state where the club is based.
