Veteran Commend Tinubu Over Dikko, Reiterate Clamour For Wrestler As NWF Presidency
The Veteran Wrestlers Association of Nigeria (VWAN,) has described the appointment of Shehu Dikko as Chairman of National Sports Commission (NSC) as a square peg in a square hole
The veteran Wrestlers who commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the appointment said this after paying Dikko a courtesy call in his office to congratulate him and to discuss wat forward to wrestling in Nigeria.
Members of the contingent that visited the NSC Chairman were Nigeria wrestling greats including Austin Atasie, Philip Olawale Garba Lame, Olawale Akala and Iliyasu Bawa.
Speaking on Friday, Maurice Atula, Chairman of VWAN said they were confident that the reintroduction of NSC and appointment of Dikko was a lifeline for the Nigerian sports sector
“Sports persons will ideally manage sports better, and Shehu Dikko is one of us, we are convinced that he will do well.
“The Mr President got it right on this one, we want to thank for giving sports a lifeline by the appointment of Shehu Dikko as Chairman NSC,” he said.
Atula said as the Nigeria Wrestling Federation election approaches, the veterans were still of the strong opinion that a wrestling technocrat should succeed the outgoing president to prevent the sports from going into extinction.
The chairman said the wrestling community, especially the veterans, rallied to ensure that a core wrestler became president 12 years ago adding that the success recorded in the period was attributable to the decision.
He said another wrestler should be supported to takeover and that it was expected that the outgoing president should throw his weight behind another wrestling technocrat to take over the mantle of leadership.
“The Chairman of NSC met face to face with the real wrestling champions on Thursday and considered our demand to have wrestling technocrats as the next President of NWF.
“Nigerian wrestlers galvanised to support the current President of NWF to take care of wrestling, after 12 years we expect that the President will reciprocate the respect we gave him by supporting another wrestler in the person of the Golden Warrior Morris Atula.
“He has the capacity., was a wrestler, he has coached abd, he is a good administrator, he is the right person for the next NWF Presidency, the VWAN expect the President to support another technocrat like himself to take over.
“We want a technocrat like Maurice Atula who is very experienced to take over,” he said.
The Veteran Wrestlers chairman said the association was appreciative of the philanthropy and support of the a certain uniformed man who is still in service and called on him to continue the gesture.
He said such a personality would be very busy with official national duties that he would not be able to devote time to the development of wrestling as the task demanded.
“We appreciate all what he is doing for wrestling and we encourage him to continue sponsoring wrestling
“We call on him to continue to play the role of a philanthropist because of his love for wrestling.
“We know his hands are full, he is a very busy man and adding wrestling to it will mean that wrestling will not have the attention it requires.,” he said.
