Shaibu Missing As Obaseki Leads Prominent Edolites To Cheer Bendel Insurance To CAF League Victory

Governor Godwin Obaseki on Saturday led prominent citizens of Edo State to cheer Bendel Insurance Football Club to victory in their CAF Confederation Cup preliminary match against Chlef FC of Algeria but with the home side’s most notable ex-player, Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu unavailable.

GWG.ng reports that Shaibu was until August 2022, a registered player with Bendel Insurance.

The deputy governor who is presently embattled in a game of wits had until now been the face of the government in sporting activities.

However, he was missing as he has been in many recent activities involving the governor when Obaseki led dignitaries to cheer Bendel Insurance to a 1-0 win over the visiting Algerian club side.

Bendel Insurance striker, Imade Osarenkhoe, scored the lone goal of the game in the 41st minute of the tension soaked match to wild jubilation from the fans who filled the 12,000 capacity stadium to the brim.

Speaking after the match, Obaseki said: “I feel happy as we have a very good, youthful, strong and imaginative team. I am really thrilled and pleased with their performance this evening. The weather was not clement, but the boys performed well.

“They had good ball control. Having studied the Algerian team, our coach will make sure they put up a good strategy and come home with the victory. I am very optimistic that we will get a win over there in Algeria.

He continued: “This is one of the greatest achievements of our government. We were able to mobilise the citizens and football lovers to fill this stadium and cheer our team to victory.

“I feel good and great our team has performed well and we have brought football back to life in Benin city and this team will go far in this competition”

Former Super Eagles Coach, Austin Eguavon, lauded the tactical play of the Bendel Insurance team, noting: “Bendel Insurance has been out of continental contest for a long time. Coming back now, they have brought beauty to the game. Our return leg in Algeria will be a very tough one but we hope Bendel Insurance will make us proud.”

The Coach of Bendel Insurance, Monday Odegie, who praised the performance of his boys against the Aso Chlef side, said it was a good game.

He noted that football is not the number of goals scored but the number of points the team gets, adding: “It was a good game to worry about the mistakes and work to correct them. This game has passed and our focus is on the second game.”

Other guests present at the stadium include the Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly (EDHA), Rt. Hon. Blessing Agbebaku; former Deputy Governor of Edo State, Chief Mike Ogiadomhe; Edo State Head of Service, Anthony Okungbowa Esq.; Chief of Staff to Edo State Governor, Hon. Osaigbovo Iyoha; Chairman, Edo State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Anthony Aziegbemi; Chairman, Edo State Sports Commission, Yusuf Ali, and the Chief Medical Director of University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Prof. Darlington Obaseki.

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