Super Eagles and Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi on Thursday (Boxing Day) put smiles on the faces of about 2000 kids in the city of Ajegunle in the Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government Area of Lagos State, as part of activities marking the Christmas celebration in the area.
The Boxing Day children’s party was held at the Maracana Sports Centre, in collaboration with renowned businessman Yemi Idowu, the chairman of the local government, Fatai Ayoola, as well as the traditional ruler of Iwa and Apapa, Mohammed Amodu-Tijani.
Ndidi, who is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury, did the honour of serving guests at the event before handing out food items to the children.
The 28-year-old said his Christmas experience while growing up was one of the motivating factors for organising the event.
“I feel like it’s a festive period and these kids deserve something like this. It’s something they will have to remember and the memory sticks with them”, the midfielder said at the event.
“The happiness on the faces of the children too can’t be explained. When you do something for adults, the emotions stay with them only but when you do something for kids, the adults see it as well, so they also try to do the same. All we are trying to do is to create memories and I’m happy to be doing this because some of us didn’t have this experience while growing up, I grew up in the barracks like most people know. This is not about football now. Schools are on break and this is a time to create memories, especially among kids”.
The host and CEO of Cana Sports, Idowu also hailed the Leicester midfielder for the gesture.
“This is part of something we do every year to try and celebrate with the kids, especially because we are here in Ajegunle and they are friends. I am very happy to have the king, the chairman and Wilfred to support us in doing this. It has a bigger impact when we all work together”.
Chairman of Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government, Fatai Ayoola, noted that the role of the authority was mainly crowd control.
“What we have done is to first accredit them from the LGA secretariat and we drove the kids into this venue. We also made arrangements for those who would come unannounced at the Maracana Park and they would equally be taken care of as much as those inside so we can have a perfect party.
“It’s a back-to-back celebration for the kids of Ajegunle and we are elated to host Ndidi. This month alone we have had three visitors who have given the kids befitting Christmas gifts. So, what we are doing is to make them happy in grand style”.
