As part of activities marking the 20 years remembrance of the late Moshood Abiola Peller, all is set for the maiden edition of football competition in his honour tagged: Peller Unity Cup among clubs in Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State.
The competition which is aimed at discovering talents among the youths in the region is scheduled for July 18 to August 3 at the Iseyin District Grammar School, Iseyin, Oyo state.
Speaking at a press conference held at the House of Chiefs, Secretariat, Ibadan, the sponsor of the tournament, Shina Peller of Aquila Group said about 300 players will compete for the trophy where the winner will represent the region at the proposed Oyo State league.
He said the Peller Unity Cup in honour of Professor Peller is aimed at discovering talents, empowering the youths and promoting unity amongst diverse communities, while fostering development in the hometown axis of the late magician, Oke-Ogun region and Oyo state at large.
The Cup will be played across ten local government axis of Oke-Ogun and will involve 300 players.
The local government that will take part in the competition are: Iseyin Local Government, Kajola Local Government, Itesiwaju Local Government, Iwajowa Local Government, Atisbo Local Government, Saki-West Local Government, Saki- East Local Government, Oorelope Local Government, Irepo Local Government and Olorunsogo Local Government.
He said “this is the maiden edition of the Moshood Abiola Peller football Unity Cup among our youths in Oke-Ogun area, my passion is for football and that is why we choose football ahead of other sports but in the second sports like golf, athletes, Tennis among others.
“This tournament is not just winning trophy but to discover talents as we have already engaged different agents to come fish out talents during the cause of the tournament as sports is the only universal language that bring people together”.
The winner will go home with N500,000 while the second and third position will share N450,000 while the both Most valuable player with top scorers will share N100,000.
He urged the sons and daughters of the state to come home and work with the state government in order to reposition the state to better side.
Meanwhile, Oyo state commissioner for Youth and Sports, Yomi Oke has applauded the courage of the sponsor for looking back to give back to his community.
He said Shina Peller was only following his late father’s foot steps as late Abiola Peller was known as a lover of sports.
His words, “Sports is no longer business of government alone but we need individuals to promote the game of sports. What Peller is doing today will go a long way in the mind of our youth because they are being engaged with this tournament.
“We hope we can raise football team from the participants at the end of the day as we are ready to support them from now till the end of the programmes.”
