The Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has congratulated the state’s contingent to the National Sports Festival (NSF), Delta 2022, on their brilliant performance and success at the festival.
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The governor celebrated Team Oyo, comprising athletes in different games, for finishing the 21st National Sports Festival tagged, Delta 2022, with a haul of 50 gold medals, 51 silver medals and 62 bronze medals, to clinch the fourth position at the competition, moving up two spots from last year’s NSF, Edo 2021, medal’s table.
Makinde equally hailed the Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC), also known as the Oluyole Warriors, for winning the Nigeria Professional Football League’s Dozy Mmobuosi Super Cup and being rewarded with a N100 Million Prize money, at the weekend, praying for a better season in 2023 and beyond.
Speaking through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Taiwo Adisa, in a statement, Governor Makinde noted that the 3SC’s and Team Oyo’s successes were testaments to how far the Makinde administration had come in sports development.
He stated: “The triumph of the Oluyole Warriors and the Team Oyo at the respective competitions, showcase the never-say-die spirit of an Oyo man and his penchant for setting the pace in greatness.”
“These victories recorded by Oyo teams in football and other sports, coming at a period very close to the 2023 general election in which Governor Makinde is seeking re-election as governor of the state, is a worthy testament to how the governor has redefined sports in the state,” the statement says.
In the statement, Adisa recalled how the administration had placed a huge premium on sports development, beginning with the remodelling of the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba and the building of mini-stadia across the state.
He said the government had equally made it a priority to encourage its teeming athletes and pay close attention to the minutest sport details as well as allowing them a free hand to operate, unlike in the past, when undue interference from government derailed sport teams in the state.
The statement reads: “There can be no greater campaign messages in sport development than these: Makinde has reawakened the winning spirits of Oyo’s sport teams, taking the 3SC from relegation in 2021 to winning the Super Cup and moving the Team Oyo to fourth place on the medal’s table at the NSF. Things can only get better.
“With these successes of the Team Oyo and the 3SC, the entirety of Oyo State residents, who longed for a return to the pacesetting heights in sports for many years have now got the fulfillment of their aspirations under Governor Makinde.”
He added that the successes were a toast to a greater Oyo State where, under Governor Makinde, sports development was being made to take the centre stage in driving its economic rejuvenation agenda.
