The Chairman of Niger Tornadoes football club of Minna, Engr. Ibrahim Dada, has said the return of the team to Bako Kontagora stadium, Minna for its home matches of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), is a plus, considering cost of honouring home matches and fans base support.
The Chairman stated this on Friday while interacting with members of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Niger state chapter in his office, ahead of the team’s first home match of the 2024/2025 season.
He said, “It was not easy playing league matches home away from your traditional home. It was like playing all the 38 league matches away.”
The Chairman noted that returning to Bako Kontagora stadium will save the team stress of being on the road always, some cost and also they will enjoy home fans support.
He explained that while playing at their former adopted home, the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, the team had to be in Kaduna four days before the game day, adding that he spent about N5.5 million to honour a home match at Kaduna, because he had to pay for the stadium facility and other logistics, including the accomodation of his team and their feeding.
Engr. Dada further explained that even while the fate of the stadium in Kaduna is thrown open they hardly gate up to a hundred people coming to cheer the team up, but expressed optimism that they will enjoy full support of the home fans in Minna, as he believes the stadium will be full to its capacity.
He disclosed that Niger Tornadoes are solely funded by Niger state government, and they believe that soccer loving Nigerlites deserve to see their state darling team play their league matches in Minna, hence the rationale behind the efforts of the club management to return the team to Minna.
He appreciated the state Governor, Farmer Mohammed Umar Bago and the government through the state ministry of sports for supporting the management in actualising the team’s return to Minna, adding that the management will continue to do its best to sustain the team’s return to their traditional home.
The club Chairman also solicited for the support of all stakeholders to ensure that the team succeeds in its campaign.
He appealed to fans to maintain peaceful atmosphere anytime the team is playing at home in order not to ruin the effort of returning the team back home.
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