By Khalid Idris Doya
The Managing Director Nigerian Army Special Vehicles Plant, Major-General AU Obiwulu has admonished youth within the Bauchi Brigade’s host community to support security agencies within formation to tackle insecurity.
General Obiwulu who was Special Guest of Honour at the final match play of the 33 Brigade Commander’s Second Edition (Christmas Edition) football tournament gave the charge during the closing ceremony of the Brigade Commander’s football tournament organized for youth footballers within and outside Shadawanka Barracks communities.
He congratulated the Commander for bringing the youths together through sports, maintaining that sports is a factor that promotes unity among the people, and charged the winners of the tournament, Guru FC, to celebrate their victory with dignity, saying there must be a winner in every contest.
He explained that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen TA Lagbaja encourages such events which are aimed at training, improving Civil-military relations, sportsmanship and discipline.
The Commander 33 Artillery Brigade, Brig Gen E Egbe, has earlier in a speech disclosed that the objective of the tournament was to engage the youths within and outside the barracks through civil/military relations to promote physical fitness among them, and to further take their hearts and minds away from crime, discover talents among others.
Commander Egbe expressed appreciation to the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen TA Lagbaja and the General Officer Commanding 3 Division Nigerian Army and Commander Operation SAFE HAVEN, Maj Gen AE Abubakar for their support and direction in ensuring that the objectives of the competition are met.
He explained that the number of participating teams for the Second Edition (Christmas Edition) of the tournament was increased to 8 clubs as against 6 clubs that played in the first edition in June 2023.
Gen. Egbe recalled that the tournament was scheduled to play from 1 to 29 December 2023, while the final match play and closing ceremony was rescheduled to 5 January 2024 due to the unfortunate killings that happened on Christmas Eve in Jos.
According to him, the reason for the postponement was to commiserate with those that lost their loved ones in the incident.
Teams that participated in the second edition of the 33 Brigade Commanders’ Cup included the Tiger Warriors FC, Shadawanka Boys FC, Young Talented FC and Young Stars FC. Others are the Vulcan FC, Green Barret, Guru FC and Abu Ali FC, with Guru FC scoring 4 goals against Abu Ali FC in the final match play to emerge winner of the trophy in the tournament.
Highlights of the closing ceremony included presentation of award medals to the first, second and third positions in the tournament. Others are token presentations to the officials and to all teams that participated in the tournament, while presentations were also made to individual players and teams that distinguished themselves during the tournament.
The ceremony was attended by village heads from Guru and Shadawanka villages, invited guests, officers, soldiers, corps members, fans and well wishers both within and outside Shadawanka Barracks communities. The climax of the ceremony was the presentation of the Champion Trophy to Guru FC and group photographs.
