Fashola Earns Recognition Ahead of the Second Africa Athletics Masters Billed for Lagos.

Babatunde Raji- Fashola.
Babatunde Raji- Fashola.

Ahead of the second Africa Athletics Masters (AAM), billed for Lagos, Uruemu Adu, the secretary of the Nigeria Athletics Masters (NAM) disclosed on Monday that Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola will be a special guest at the event.

Adu told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the governor’s love for sports has earned him recognition as first athletics masters personality.

The event which is slated for May 30th to June 1st at the Teslim Balogun Stadium and the National Stadium, both in Surulere, Lagos.

“The governor of Lagos State, being a sports lover, has given his support to the athletics masters. So we decided to make him a recognized athlete for the competition,” Adu stated.

He also noted that the Minister of Sports Bolaji Abdullahi had commended the idea of engaging former athletes in taking part in sporting events.

“We are also expecting the honourable minister of sports to grace the event because it has to do with former athletes who have done Nigeria proud,” Adu said.

Yusuf Ali, a former Commonwealth Gold medalist in the Long- jump, told NAN that was looking forward to the competition which has been his favourite event.

“I am looking forward to my showmanship- getting fans to clap for me as I take a jump, even when this is not really a scoring event.

“I really miss my active days in the sport,” he said.

Adu appealed to sponsors to identify with the competition, saying that the competition had yet to gain the needed support from corporate organisations.

“The problem we are still facing is the lack of sponsorship. We have not received the needed support, nevertheless, the masters will hold in Lagos.

“We had to ask for permission from the president of AAM to postpone the event, but we were told that we cannot shift the date,” he added.