As the campaign for election into the Kwara State Football Association hots up, a seasoned sportscaster, Bayour Issah has called for caution among all the aspirants, urging them to genuinely pursue their ambitions, respect the laid down guidelines and follow the statues tenaciously.
The election is scheduled for June.
Receiving the Kwara State best journalist of 2022, Ibitoye Shittu, the respected sports journalist, who is also Publisher of Sportspro News, Bayour Issah commended his guest for showing interest as a stakeholder, who has contributed immensely to the growth of football not only in Kwara State but across the globe through his incisive reportage and administrative savvy displayed over the years.
Son of a late deputy governor of Kwara State, Chief Jimoh Shittu, the younger Shittu is an aspirant from Kwara South for election into the Alhaji Usman Mustapha football house in the state.
Issah admonished that elections should not be a do-or-die affair, but rather the aspirations should be regarded as a wake-up call to put the state ahead of others with quality participation from critical stakeholders whose passion for the game of football would improve the standards of the game in the country.
He condemned in totality the campaign of calumny by aspirants in the forthcoming poll to elect a new executive board.
Four aspirants have so far shown their willingness to lead the association in the state. They include the incumbent, Mallam Abdulahi Musa Idris Thuraya, from Kwara North. He is the first democratically elected chairman of the association, who has made the office more attractive.
Another aspirant is Alhaji Abdulrasaq Adebayo Owolabi (Agbaji Wopa) is from Kwara Central. He served in the defunct Nigeria Premier League, and was also Vice Chairman of Kwara United FC under Prince Oladimeji Ladi Thompson before his new appointment as interim chairman of the Ilorin West Local Government football council.
Another formidable aspirant is Abdullateef Ahmed Olaide. Managing Director of Cyteck Engineering Construction and Technology is a not only a resourceful civil engineer, but he is also passionate about football. The product of the University of Ilorin has promised to institutionalise football at the grassroots.
Shittu is the administrator of the well regarded Kwara Sports Arena and has two Master’s degrees. He said he would work towards innovation that would put the state on the world football map.
Idowu writes for Sportspro News
