The presidency held a reception for the victorious national U17 football team and other deserving sportsmen and women at the Aso Villa Banquet Hall today.
President Muhammad Buhari finally kept good his promise to host the all-conquering Golden Eaglets after their return from Chile last November.
Buhari fetes U17 at Aso Villa (Twitter/greenvilla)
Led by former Super Eagles star Emmanuel Amunike, the Golden Eaglets romped to an
unprecedented fifth trophy at the FIFA U17 tournament in Chile after overcoming West African neighbours Mali in an all-African final.
U17 captain Kelechi Nwakali was at the event. (Twitter/greenvilla)
They became the second side after Brazil to successfully defend the title following triumph in the 2013 event under present U20 coach Manu Garba.
Members of the victorious side (Twitter/Greenvilla)
There were murmurs of disapproval across the country when the players were sent away with N20,000 each on return to Abuja, with the government rejecting a reward package proposed by the Sports minister.
But the presidency quickly moved to quash the rumours by announcing a banquet for January 21 in their honour.
It certainly wasn’t the ‘Naira rain’ of times past as the economic realities do not allow for such today, but they victorious lads were feted by the president with a charge to reach the pinnacle of their chosen careers.
President Buhari greets the ‘Special athletes’ (Twitter/Greenvilla)
Also honoured was the victorious Nigerian team to last year’s Special Olympics in California, where the nation bagged 71 medals including 34 gold medals.
Source: Twitter/Greenvilla
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