Zamfara'll win laurels'By Muhammad Sabiu, GusauTHE Special Adviser to Zamfara State governor on Sports, Alh Jaafaru Ibrahim has maintained that the state will not disappoint its teeming national sports fans in the forthcoming sports festival in Lagos as it is determined to win laurels.He stated that his optimism was borne out of the recent victory the state recorded in the just concluded Zonal eliminations sports festival held in Birnin Kebbi where the state contingent was crowned as the overall best.Speaking in an interview, the SA disclosed that out of the three events they participated in the competition they emerged winners in two events.He said as a result of the support and encouragement his office was receiving from Governor Abdulaziz Yari, he was optimictic that they will not disappoint sports lovers in the forthcoming sports festival slated to take place in Lagos.'I want to assure you this time around we will come home with laurels. It will not be like the precious outing where we came home empty handed.'Ibrahim maintained that also this year in February the state under 20 won the presidential sports competition. Also in May this year the Table Tennis team from the state has won a laurel in Abuja.He appealed to the wealthy individuals and organisation to invest in the sports.Anambra festival endsBySylvanus Eze, AwkaTHE sixth Anambra State Sports festival was rounded off at the weekend in colourful style with Governor Peter Obi and his wife Margaret in attendance.The Festival which kicked off on Tuesday at Chuba Ikpeazu Stadium attracted participants from all parts of the state.Njikoka Local Government Area became the overall winner with sixty-six Gold, Fifty Six Silver and thirty nine bronze, while Oyi and Awka South came second and third respectively.Aguata defeated Nnewi South 4-2 on penalties to win the male football competition while Anocha beat Onitsha South 5-2 on penalties to lift the female football trophy.Highlight was presentation of prizes and awards to the winners and other sports stakeholders by Governor Obi.Speaking at the event, Chief Anthony Agidigbo Oguejiofor said that the return of school sports and Sports Festival, last held in the old Anambra State would be one of the enduring legacies of peter Obi Government.Sport is tool for national development 'Al-MakuraBy Umar Muhammed andAdemola Adegbite, LafiaNASARAWA state Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura has reiterated his administration's commitment to promote sports in the state, stressing that the need to use sports to entrench national unity among diverse ethnic groups, peace and social development in the country is imperative.Receiving the Torch of Unity in Lafia, the state capital, from Abuja in a relay to Benue state at the weekend from the zonal Director of Sports for the North Central, who was represented by the state commissioner of sports, Daniel Ogah Ogazi at the Lafia township stadium, the governor said: ' the torch as a symbol of unity of the country that demands that all citizens should sit and play together as one indivisible entity'.The governor who used the medium to showcase Nasarawa state to the world as a model of peace and unity said: 'This is attested in the field of sports as Nasarawa state has not been found in any sense of misdemenour.'He further warned that sports which serve as a center of peace should be properly managed because the way we manage the athletes greatly determined the peace of the future. This reason has occasioned sports to become one of the preoccupations of this administration.He continued: 'holding the touch today is holding the irreversible commitment of sports in Nasarawa state. To this end, government is to build a standard stadium for the people of Nasarawa state and Nigeria.
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