Edo Deputy Gov officially retires from professional football in style

August 13, 2022

Edo Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu on Friday night announced his exit from professional football.

Shaibu, a regular in the Bendel Insurance Football Club, Benin, it would be recalled, in the current season of the nation’s professional league.

Until his retirement, Shaibu a player of Bendel Insurance FC helped the club secure a ticket to the Nigerian Professional Football League, NPFL.

The deputy governor announced his retirement in Benin at a news conference, he addressed shortly after the Insurance’s last match in the Nigerian National League (NNL) against Vandrezzer FC of Lagos.

Insurance won week 22 by a lone goal to end the 2021/2022 soccer season, amidst wild jubilation among the fans and supporters at Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium the venue of the NNL encounter.

Briefing newsmen, the Edo deputy governor said he was elated that his six years sojourn with the Benin side ended with a ticket to the Nigerian apex league.

Shaibu commended all the stakeholders, who helped to restore the past glory of the ancient football club.

“I am so excited today that in good health, I am retiring from professional football and thank the stakeholders in Bendel Insurance for this historic moment of retiring with jersey number 40.

“It’s first of its kind and I am so excited and happy about it,” he said, noting that he was more elated that his commitment to and rebranding of Bendel Insurance yielded the desired result.

The deputy governor, who recounted his football stints in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, with YSFON U20, Foreign Affairs FC, as well as the defunct Ijesha United and Nigerian Prisons FC, said he won all matches in the club except for a draw.

The retiring player, who noted that he exited without any injury, identified the qualification of Bendel Insurance for the NPFL as the happiest moment in his football career, even beyond the gold medal he won for Edo during the 20th National Sports Festival.

He urged Coach Monday Odigie to live up to the bidding in the NPFL, assuring the club of the necessary state government support.

The club, he noted could not afford to go back to the lower league again, as they were back to where they rightly belonged.

He said the present government in Edo had demonstrated genuine love for sports with the upgrade of facilities at the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium and rebranding of both the men’s and women’s football clubs in the state.

According to him, Edo State Government had not only returned the state as a home to sports but a tourist site for sports development in the country.

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