A former Super Eagles player, Henry Nwosu has endorsed the nomination of the Chairman of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye for the annual Pitch Awards Sportsmanship category for the year 2023.
In a touching testimony, Nwosu, who has coached a number of professional league sides including Union Bank of Lagos and Gateway of Abeokuta, described the former National Assembly member as embodying the traits that are needed for leadership in the country.
“When I was the coach of the U-17 team back in 2008, Elegbeleye saw me in Abuja and showed interest in how I was getting on with the job. I didn’t have any official car and was moving around in taxis.
“Three days afterwards, he called me to take delivery of a car. I didn’t ask for it and it was not as if we had a relationship beyond saying hello”, Nwosu recalled of his encounter with the then member of the House of Representatives.
On the Pitch Award, Nwosu who, remains one of the best Super Eagles midfielders, insisted that Elegbeleye merits the nomination and in his words, “he deserves to win this award and any award meant to recognise selfless contribution to sports by an individual”.
He said the selfless contributions of the second vice president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is such that “unlike some other people who would assist a Coach the way he did for me, Elegbeleye never for once called to send any player or players to me. He didn’t even make a public show of the gift but was always ensuring that I had a free hand and was comfortable to carry out the task assigned to me by the NFF”.
Super Eagles forward, Victor Osimhen; and Remo Stars Chairman, Hon. Kunle Soname are the other two nominees for the Sportsmanship Award category.
In April, Elegbeleye was crowned the Sports Administrator of the Year, 2023 at the Sportsville Awards.
