It promises to be a day of full merriment,felicitation and show of gratitude by families and friends of
the Deputy Governor of Edo State Rt Hon Comrade Philip Shaibu on Wednesday, December 1st,2021 being His Excellency’s Birthday.
As usual, friends of the comrade Deputy Governor are organising novelty football matches as part of activities lined up for the birthday celebration of the peoples Deputy Governor and sports personality of the year.
According to the programme of events released by the Coordinator of the organising body Hon Frank Ilaboya, the two matches to be played in honour of the Edo Deputy Governor are scheduled to hold at the Western Boys College mini Stadium at Ikpoba Hill,Benin.
The first one scheduled for 1:00 PM is between Members of the Sports Writers Association Of Nigeria (SWAN) and Edo State Agency For the Control of HIV/AIDES (ED0SACA). This is expected to be followed by the main game involving Team Shaibu/Obaseki vs All Stars selected scheduled to kick of at 3:00 PM.
Some football personalities expected to feature in the novelty match include ex internationals like former Super Eagles Coach, Austin Eguavoen and other top ranking personalities around the state,including ex Bendel Insurance FC stars..
It is on record that Philip Shaibu is the only Deputy Governor in Nigeria that plays competitive football.
He registered and played for Bendel Insurance FC of Benin in 2018/2019 Nigeria National League(NNL) Football season and featured against the Spartans of Lagos in Lagos state and H.Atete in Benin. He earlier played for Julius Berger FC of Lagos.
The Edo Deputy Governor was recently decorated as the Sun Newspaper Sports personality of the year due to his outstanding performance in the sports development process in Edo state and Nigeria.
Among notable SWAN members expected to lase their boot for the athletic Edo Deputy Governor include Salihu Ibrahim of KU FM,Kehinde Osagiede of the Nigerian Observer Newspaper, Joseph Isokpehi,Wole Okpatola,Emerson Edosa of ITV.
Others include Nosa Igunma of Vibes FM, Moses Idahosa, Ayoola among others.