Okpotu bags Rashidi Yekini NPFL Highest Goal Scorer Award

Anthony Okpotu of Lobi Stars Football Club of Makurdi on Saturday in Ibadan bagged the Rashidi Yekini NPFL’s Highest Goal Scorer Award for the 2016/2017 Season.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Okpotu bagged the award with N100, 000 after scoring 19 goals in the just concluded Nigeria Professional Football League 2016/2017 season.
NAN reports that the award organised by the Rashidi Yekini Foundation headed by Jubril Mohammed, the late Yekini’s lawyer, was the third edition.
Okpotu described the late Yekini as a legend and all-time highest national team goal scorer who has not been celebrated enough.
He dedicated the award to his team mates and management, saying that the award would spur him to score more goals in the subsequent season.
Okpotu called on sportsmen in the country to emulate the giant strides of the late Yekini, urging them to invest in their lives while they were still active.
He said: “When you climb a ladder, you don’t have to push it down to prevent others from climbing, because you may still need the ladder when you want to fall.’’
Yemi, the daughter of the late Yekini, called on people to always ensure that they impart more on others in whatever they do.
She said that anyone who was ready to impart on others must be ready to make sacrifices, thanking all for coming together to celebrate her late father and his memories.
In the same vein, Mohammed, the Yekini’s lawyer, said that he would not relent in doing more for the late Yekini’s family, saying that he had a covenant with the soccer legend.
Mohammed said: “We have a covenant where he told me he never trusted anyone, but me.
“He presented to me a special Quran to which we both held to make the covenant.
“Yekini had a premonition of his death and he told me I should not betray the trust he reposed in me.
“He entrusted all upon me and I promised him that I will always be by his family.’’
Also, an ex-international, Felix Owolabi, urged sportsmen to always look after themselves while active, saying that many celebrated sportsmen in the country had been abandoned.
Owolabi said: “When you are on the stage, people will love you for the services you rendered, but when you are no more on stage, they will turn against you.
“The feeling is that you have been paid for the services you rendered when you are active. Our people needs attitudinal change in this country.’’
Also, Abayomi Oke, the Oyo State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, appreciated the foundation for organising such a laudable project.
He said that it was good to celebrate our heroes while they were alive.
The commissioner also stressed the importance of education in whatever anyone does, saying that education usually gives leverage on every chosen career.
NAN reports that the event was attended by Justice Moshood Abas of Oyo State High Court, Mike Idoko of Lobi Stars Football Club and Coach Festus Allen, former 3SC Coach.
Others were: Raheed Balogun, the General Manager of 3SC, Niyi Alebiosu, Chairman, Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, Oyo State Chapter and Remi Olaniran, a gubernatorial hopeful in Oyo State.