Former governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, Edo State’s deputy governor, Philip Shaibu, are among the dignitaries that will grace the grand finale of the maiden edition of Three Ibie’s Football Sport Festival.
A statement issued by one of the organisers of the sport festival, Mr Henry Olitsa and made available to PlatinumPost, said the final of the sport event will take place on 27 December 2020, at St Anthony Education Centre, Imiegba in Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State.
The statement which said the Catholic Bishop of Auchi Diocese, Gabriel Dunia, will serve as a Chief Host, revealed that His Royal Highness, Ali Suleman, the Ogieaga of Three Ibie will also grace the occasion as father of the day.
The event which will also attract the presence of former member of House of Representatives, Abubakar Momoh and the village heads of Itsukwi and Imiakebu, will witness award presentations.
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Speaking on the football competition, Mr Henry Olitsa, said the sport festival was put in place to promote peace, unity and love among the people and communities that make up the Three Ibie Clan.
He said: “Unity is a phenomenon that its benefits cannot be over emphasised. Many measures can be used to achieve unity but one thing that has played a great deal in uniting people of the worlds today is football.
“That is why I am championing a course on a communal football teams to fast track unity in the land. With this in view, we came up with a logical strategy where we can create more than three teams that we used to have ; Imiegba, Itsukwi and Imiakebu.
“These time, the teams are created across these communities where an Imiegba footballer can belongs to a team in Imiakebu or Itsukwi and so on. This is done to avoid the emotional rhetorics that imiegba has won and Imiakebu or Itsukwi lost it, instead, a team won which comprises of members selected across the communities.
“The vision is to see Team North Ibie someday playing a team in Benin and to breed players who may luckily go international.”
The teams that feature in the football tournament are
Ali Ogio FC, Barr. Kamin Asunogie FC, Arc. M. Oyarelemi FC, Prince Philip Okhifo FC, Igbasekhe Usman FC, Abdulmaliki Okpekpe FC, Abubakar Momoh FC and Idris Ali FC.
