Aiteo Cup 2017 Final: Gov. Udom Emmanuel, behold, Akwa United

By Amos Etuk

Your Excellency, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, Executive Governor, Akwa Ibom State in just over two years of your leadership, you have unarguably become a pillar in Nigeria’s sports development. The renaissance you have brought into the sector has charted a positive course of new milestones that has propelled your dear State to global prominence.

Barely six months into office in 2015, Your Excellency, Akwa Ibom State won her first ever national trophy in football, the Federation Cup (now the Aiteo Cup) and you were proudly seated along with your counterpart from Benue State, His Excellency, Governor Samuel Ortom along with other dignitaries at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos State when your darling  football club, Akwa United defeated Lobi Stars that very historic day.

You have set new templates in sports development in Nigeria with your visionary models of building sports centres across the Federal Constituencies in the State, the first of its kind in Nigeria. You have successfully taken sports development back to the grassroots and ensured that education sustains the synergy of this concept as you look beyond the present into the future benefits that will usher international glory for your state.

You Excellency, your model for the Akwa Ibom Youth Sports Festival which took place in March 2017 remains a reference point for a new National Sports Policy and the success of Team Akwa Ibom at the National Youth Games in Ilorin, Kwara State in September 2017 on the eve of the Orange Thirtieth Anniversary of Akwa Ibom State where she placed second remains commendable.

You have made the Super Eagles find a home and fortress in Uyo as they became the first African country to qualify for the World Cup in Russia, next summer and I watched you beam with smiles of satisfaction last weekend when the Super Eagles overcame a very difficult Zambian side to make history of a sixth appearance at the mundial.

Your Excellency, this weekend precisely, the football season in Nigeria will officially come to an end with the final of the 2017 Aiteo Cup scheduled for the Agege Stadium, Lagos State and that fixture will feature Akwa United against Niger Tornadoes and the winner will proceed to be Nigeria’s second representative at next year’s CAF Confederations Cup.

Akwa United Football Club today is a household name in Nigerian football drawing a huge fan base with a beautiful and captivating football pattern that has earned the team so much respect this season.

Once again, the clock of history comes back to Lagos State and the wind of glory fills the air for another historic event where your midas touch and presence will propel Akwa United to walk the path of their destiny and rise to the ideology of their greatness and self belief to become champions. That is the Dakkada spirit in which you have successfully laid for the self belief and determination of your people to excel.

It has been a wonderful football season for the ‘’ Promise Keepers’’ who on January 1, 2017 started the year in Thanksgiving at The Apostolic Church, Ibiakpan Assembly, Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area at a service which the team and management dedicated the season to God.

                                                                    Governor Udom Emmanuel celebrating Federation Cup win with Akwa United in 2015. Will he be second time lucky?

Despite the initial challenges at the beginning of the season, Akwa United finished the 2016/2017 Nigeria Professional Football League on the fourth position, the best ever since the formation of the club and missed qualification for a continental spot by the whiskers on the final match day.

For the record, in the 2017 Aiteo Cup, Akwa United started her campaign with a 3-1 away win over Halifa Football Club in Jigawa State, beat Yobe Desert Stars at home in the next round 4-0, whitewashed 3SC of Ibadan  5-1 at home in the round of sixteen, massacred Katsina United Feeders in the first leg of the quarter finals in Uyo 7-0 and lost the second leg 2-1 qualified on aggregate 8-2, lost to Sunshine Stars of Akure 1-0 in the first leg of the semi final away and wrapped up qualification for a place in the final in the return leg at home with an emphatic 3-1 victory.

Christian Pyagbara, a striker with Akwa United is the highest goals scorer in the 2017 Aiteo Cup with seven goals to his credit and looks set to win the Golden Boots at the end of the competition.

The quality of the players and technical content of Akwa United this season clearly shows that the team is a high flying side. In the course of the season at least six of the players of the side have been invited and featured for the CHAN Eagles qualification fixture for next year’s Cup of Nations for home based players and also played at the WAFU Cup Tournament where Nigeria finished second.

Over the weekend, the League Bloggers Awards unveiled a shortlist of players and coaches that have distinguished themselves this season with Akwa United players dominating most of the categories.

Kodjovi Dadzie has been nominated in the category of Best Foreign Player, Olorunleke Ojo in the Best Goalkeeper Category, Emmanuel Ariwachukwu in the Best Defender Category, Ifeanyi  Ifeanyi and Afeez Aremu in the Best Midfield Category, Abdu Maikaba  in the Coach of the Year Category,  Ifeanyi Ifeanyi and Afeez Aremu in the best NPFL National Team Player, Alhassan Ibrahim in the Player of the Season Category and Akwa United in the Club of the Year Category.

Your Excellency, these are just some of the milestones of a well prepared team, a well motivated team, a team focused to deliver, a team ready to win the 2017 Aiteo Cup, a team consolidating on your vision in making Akwa Ibom State the preferred destination for domestic and national football and a team whose present foundation holds the new horizon for Nigerian football.

On Sunday, the road to history will be determined by the victory that beckons and the opportunity lies in the ability of the massive support Akwa United must get at the Agege Stadium to excel.  The bus loads of supporters that will depart Uyo over the weekend to cheer the team must be inspiring. The mobilisation of the Akwa Ibom Community in Lagos State, friends and well wishers just like it happened in 2015 will be another added pillar for the team to have that extra push in full drive of a record season.

The Honorable Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Akwa Ibom State, Rt.Hon Monday Uko must be sincerely commended for the milestones he has successfully achieved. Apart from being a record breaking Commissioner, he is the most successful in that capacity with the feats achieved and sincere commitment to interpret the vision of Governor Udom Emmanuel.

His support to the success story of Akwa United has been phenomenal and watching him closely last weekend during the semi final clash against Sunshine Stars, you could see the patriot in him and the joy of victory in the strides for more glory.

For him, the final on Sunday will be the ultimate glory season and will ensure that the team is properly motivated ahead of the encounter to excel.

If there is a seasoned administrator who has re-structured and re-defined football club administration and management in Akwa Ibom State is Etubom Paul Bassey, the Chairman, Akwa United Football Club and Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Sports.

He has brought his wealth of experience into the team and positioned the team in becoming perhaps, I can safely say among Nigeria’s best three clubsides this year.  He has ushered a strong content for the club, enhanced a sustained welfare programme for the team and has given the media the strong partnership to propel the team to her new heights of glory.

As Chairman of Akwa United Football Club, Elder Paul Bassey despite the challenges of the humble beginning to the season, has raised the bar of professionalism in club administration in positioning the team to the new heights of excellence heralding the strides of successes and deserves to be commended even as he awaits the crowning of his team this weekend as Aiteo Cup Champions.

For Abdu Maikaba, the Technical Adviser of Akwa United, he was least expected to have left his former club, Wikki Tourists Football Club of Bauchi State that had earned a continental ticket last season for Akwa United. He came to Akwa United with a very rich profile in the Nigerian football league and today has turned the team into a very exciting delight to watch.

Always cool, calm and never rattled even when under pressure, Abdu Maikaba has proven beyond doubt that with the right atmosphere, conducive working environment and good facilities as he presently enjoys with Akwa United there are windows of opportunities to excel and his faith in his team remains unshaken. He controls the technical display of the team and is widely respected by his players and loved by the fans.

The vision of the construction of the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium has given Akwa United the platform for the team to express itself with the free flow of football artistry. Obviously, the best football edifice in West Africa, the club has been able to maximize the benefits of the stadium to her optimum output and deserve to end this football season on a high note.

Your Excellency, I sincerely commend you for redeeming the promise made to the players who won the 2015 Federation Cup. You are a patriot and a leader who loves sports and your emphasis on the long term benefits of proper planning has laid a strong foundation for a prosperous future.

This Sunday, you will lead Akwa Ibom State to Lagos adorning the jersey colours of Akwa united and your presence will be a great inspiration to a generation of players walking down the tunnel into the field of play knowing that only a victory can set the stage for the end of a glorious season and that as the 2017 Aiteo Cup will by God’s grace be presented to you, it will be another feather to the thirtieth anniversary celebrations of our statehood and this great feat happened in this season, in your time, for Akwa Ibom State. I believe, in our unity as a people, we will emerge victorious. It will be the perfect icing to the end of a beautiful football season.