AWKA – The Anambra State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Tony Nnacheta, on Friday said the state would immortalise late football legend, Albert Onyeanwuna, who died in April in Lagos.
Inaugurating a 15-member burial committee in Awka, Nnacheta, said that Onyeanwuna would be buried on Sept. 19 at Abatete in Idemili Local Government Area of the state.
He said the state government had also constituted a 30-man national committee comprising top football personalities across the country, assuring that the late soccer hero would be given a befitting state funeral.
“This is in remembrance of his contributions to the growth and development of the game in Nigeria,’’ the commissioner said.
Describing the late footballer as an illustrious son of the state, Nnacheta said the government would continue to appreciate any son or daughter that launched it into limelight.
He said that burial activities for the football legend would hold in four Nigerian cities — Lagos, Port Harcourt, Awka and Abatete. [eap_ad_1] He expressed optimism that the events would be hitch-free considering the vastly improved security situation in the state, made possible by Gov. Willie Obiano’s zero tolerance to crime.
The commissioner said the burial activities would include a novelty football match on Sept. 7 between Lagos All Stars and Lagos SWAN at the Eagle Club, Surulere, Lagos.
He said that Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos and his Anambra counterpart had indicated interest to play in the match.
Nnacheta said the Port Harcourt All Stars would also play a friendly with Port Harcourt ex-professionals at the Sharks Stadium, Port Harcourt, on Sept. 13.
The commissioner said the final football match on Sept. 18 would be played at the home town of the legend between Enugu All Stars and Onitsha All Stars, at Notre Dame College pitch, Abatete.
He said the late Onyeanwuna would lie in state at the Women’s Development Centre, Awka on Sept. 18 and would be laid to rest after a funeral mass at the St. Dominic Catholic Church, Agbaja, Abatete on Sept. 19.
Onyeanwuna was one of the biggest players of his era, a master dribbler who debuted for the Red Devils, as the Nigerian senior football team was then known, on Oct. 30, 1955.
He was a member of the Eastern Region’s Spartans Football Club that won the National Golden Cup for keeps in the 60s. (NAN)
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