Bayelsa To Host State-wide Sports Festival In November …Lauds Its Two Football Teams
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By our Correspondent
Bayelsa State Government has said that it is preparing to host a state-wide sports festival that would attract participants from all the eight local government areas of the state.
Governor Douye Diri made this known on Wednesday at
the 87th Session of the weekly State Executive Council in Government House,
Yenagoa.
The Governor, who spoke through the Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, noted that sports remains a veritable tool with which to dissuade the youths of the state from crime, criminality and
drugs.
Expressing his conviction that with sports, the present administration under his watch is taking the
right direction in youth development, Governor Diri announced that efforts were underway to make the maiden Bayelsa Sports festival in November this year a reference point.
He, therefore, called on all the Local
Government Councils to ensure proper preparations and mobilization of their sports teams for the
festival.
The Bayelsa Chief Executive also used the opportunity to congratulate the
management, coaches and players of Bayelsa United FC for gaining
promotion to the Nigerian Premier League after several years in the lower division.
He equally commended the Bayelsa Queens FC who did not only win the
2021/22 Nigerian women football league, but also emerged as winners of the WAFU
Women Cup staged in Cote d’Ivoire.
Governor Diri who disclosed that Bayelsa Queens were already through
to the final of the 2022 Aiteo Cup, urged the team to make the state prouder as they represent
Nigeria at the CAF Women Champions League in Morocco next month.
His words: “We are investing so much in sports development. We are thanking our sponsors and partners who have decided to work with us in sponsoring our major sports festival.
“By November this year, we believe we are going to host the first truly all-Bayelsa sports festival. We enjoin our LGAs and our youths to take advantage of the opportunity and momentum that would be created to win laurels for themselves.
“We believe sports is a tool to galvanize our youths to abandon crime, criminality and drugs. We believe that with sports the state is taking the right direction.
“We congratulate our two teams, Bayelsa United, and Bayelsa Queens. Bayelsa United who for many years had been in the lower league, have been promoted to the premier league.
“Bayelsa Queens have not only become queens of Nigerian football, but are now queens of West Africa. They have also defended their Aiteo Cup title to the final, and would be in Morocco in October for CAF Women League Championship.”
Speaking on the forthcoming political campaigns ahead of the 2023 general elections in the state, Senator Douye Diri reiterated his call on political actors to play by the rules of the game.
He warned that his administration would not fold its arms and watch politicians break the rules to undermine the peace and security of
the state, assuring that effective measures had already been put in place to safeguard lives and property before, during and after the electioneering season.
“As we inch closer to the political campaigns, we urge politicians to play according to the rules of the game, as government would not be aloof and watch people break the rules to undermine the security of our state.”
Governor Diri thanked Bayelsans and the various security agencies for their continued support, pointing out that Bayelsa still remains one of the safest and most peaceful states in the country, and expressed the desire of government to maintain the status-quo.
