The Nigeria Football Federation has expressed profound
shock and grief at the death early on Friday morning of retired technocrat and
one-time Chief of Staff to the Minister of Youth and Sports, Alhaji Abba
Abdullahi Yola.
Alhaji Yola was reported to have given up the ghost
after a period of illness.
Yola, a highly-experienced civil servant, served at
various times as Zonal Coordinator of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports
(Zone 6), special assistant to the Director General of the National Sports
Commission (Chief Patrick Ekeji) and also as a member of the Presidential Task
Force on Nigeria’s qualification for, and participation in, the 2010 FIFA World
Cup finals in South Africa.
He was also at a period the Chairman of Kano Pillars
Football Club, one of Nigeria’s leading and most passionately-supported
football clubs, and held the traditional title of Ciroman Kano.
President of the NFF, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau (MON)
was in sombre mood: “I have known Alhaji Abba Yola for many years now, and I
can attest to the fact that he was a kind, humble and knowledgeable man. He
showed immense respect to everyone he met, even if those people were younger
and less-knowledgeable. His death comes as a shock, but we take solace in the
incontrovertible fact that he was a good and great man, and left a worthy
legacy of excellent service.
“Our prayer is that the Almighty Allah will welcome
him to aljanna, and also grant those he has left behind the
fortitude to bear the great loss.”
Alhaji Abba Yola’s demise sent shockwaves through the
length and breadth of Nigeria’s sports community on Friday.
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