… Appeals to Kwara Government for support

By Abdul Momoh

The Chairman of Gidado Football Club of Ilorin, Alhaji Babatunde Saliu Afase has disclosed that about 80 per cent of players in the club are of Kwara State origin so as to meet up with the mission to which the club was founded.

He stated this during a chat with our reporter in his office, recently.

According to the business mogul, ‘I can tell you with all sense of modesty that 80 per cent of our players are of Kwara extraction.

“Gidado Football Club today hasn’t derailed from it’s mandate which allows for two-third home-based players. Our mission right from onset was to raise talented Kwara-born players to stardom via Gidado FC,” he said.

The sports philanthropist disclosed further saying ‘Presently we are playing at Nationwide league, we will strive hard to get Nigeria National League (NNL) ticket after which I will go and give it to the Governor.

“This present Kwara State Government is a listening type and has exhibited some level of transparency. They have shown readiness to help the club.

“For instance, we had it tough with the immediate administration. I paid N5,000 per training before we could be allowed to use KFA pitch. The past government was so disdained to club as all efforts to aid the team fell on deaf ear.

“Fortunately, we have benefited from the present government. I approached the Permanent Secretary of ministry of sports over the usage of KFA for training, immediately they directed the KFA management to allow us to train free,” Afase said.

He however urged the Kwara State Government to come to the aid of the club inform of subvention since Gidado FC is the only private driven Football Club in the state playing in the NLO.

“We urged the Kwara State Government that whatever subvention she could afford for us per month, I will add mine to it. Football is an assets and many talents are abound in Kwara State.

“If a player is raised to stardom from a family, it has a much economic multiplier effect on his immediate family and indeed the state at large,” the Ace Football Administrator stressed.

Afase added that the reason he sold-off the club’s NNL qualifications last season was due to the effect of capital burden as the immediate past administration neither showed any sense of obligation nor remorse with the club.

He noted that it was the defunct Kwara United Feeder team that gave birth to Gidado FC and he named the club after his late grandfather.

“In soonest time, I want to see Gidado FC playing at the Premier League, and with God on our side, we will get there.

“Some years back, about 7 of our players were invited to Golden Eaglets, they were screened to1 keeper and 1 player. So if the government could support the club, it will get to a period that we will be sufficient enough without necessarily need their support”, he concluded.

  Alhaji Babatunde Saliu Afase, Gidado FC, Ilorin, Kwara State