Emmanuel Ojeabulu, winner of the 61^st FirstBank Lagos Open Golf Championship has been listed in the WAGR.

The premier golf championship which was held from 18 – 20 November at the golf section of Ikoyi Club 1938 was keenly contested by over 190 low handicap players from several golf clubs in the country. Benin based Emmanuel Ojeabulu won the 3-day championship.

Playing three-shots off the pace going into the last 18-holes, Ojeabulu played one of the best golf of his life, maintaining steady pars for a closing 74, 3-over the course par to win the World Amateur Golf Ranking recognized event by two shots.

Ojeabulu started his game with an opening 75, a second day score of 78 and a closing 74 to replace Ilorin based Aminu Kadir, the tournament defending champion on the winners list.

Overnight leader, 20-year-old product of David Mark Golf Academy, George Paul who was tipped to win the tournament collapsed under pressure closing with an unimpressive 79 to lose by two-shots.

In the third position is Muyideen Olaitan, three-time winner of the coveted FirstBank Lagos Open trophy while Iyare Osaze was further down on the winners chart by one-shot, leaving perennial contender, Olajide Owolabi, who shot tournaments best score of 72 on day two of the competition in the fifth position.

First Bank of Nigeria Limited, sponsors of the annual Lagos Amateur Open Golf Championship has pledged its commitment to the continuous sponsorship of the tournament which is one of the longest running golf tournaments in Nigeria.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the 61^st edition of the tournament in Lagos on Sunday, the Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan who was represented by Executive Director, Chief Risk Officer of First Bank of Nigeria Limited Mr. Olusegun Alebiosu said “This year made it 61 years of our undiluted commitment to this cause, and we are absolutely delighted with the amazing support and partnership we have enjoyed from Ikoyi Club 1938 thus contributing to building a legacy not only for golf and golfers, but sports in its entirety.

To all the amateur golfers produced at this year’s championship, these champions are an inspiration and testament that you can do the impossible and I look forward to celebrating you as winners in future championships. Remember that in the words of Ben Hogan, “The most important shot in Golf is the next one”, he added.

Satisfied with the turnout of the participants, Golf Captain, Tony Oboh thanked the sponsors for keeping the tournament going, saying FirstBank commitment should be emulated.

“It is not easy to keep a tournament like this going, I therefore congratulate FirstBank for their commitment”, Oboh said.

Since its debut, FirstBank Lagos Amateur Open Golf Championship has been the most consistent and premier amateur golf event in West Africa and has produced great champions most of who are competing in the elite professional golf cadre. Last year, the Championship threw up Ilorin based Aminu Kadir who won the landmark edition. It is expected that this year’s edition will produce another great winner.

Other FirstBank-sponsored sporting events include the Georgian Cup of Kaduna Polo Tournament, sponsored for 102 years; the Dala Tennis Hard Court in Kano Club for over 30 years; the Obasanjo Pro-Amateur Golf tournament of Abeokuta Club now in its 6th year. The Bank’s influence in the development of sport in Nigeria is under its [email protected] initiative.

Following weeks of scaling through various rounds of an intensive sports-related quiz competition, Success Omonijo has emerged as the overall winner of the fifth edition of the Femi and the Gang Football Fan Battle competition.

The football competition, which lasted for a period of two months, featured hundreds of football lovers across Lagos State who participated both physically and virtually.

This is in a bid to create a platform that provides sports-loving Nigerians with an avenue to showcase their in-depth knowledge on football-related topics while also strengthening the friendly sports ecosystem nationwide through the creation of an opportunity that serves as a launchpad for a new generation of sports broadcasters to be developed.

The final round of the competition, which aired live on the Femi and the Gang’s “Game On Show,” had Success defeating both Muslimah Malki and Chineye Udezuka to clinch the grand prize of one million naira and an opportunity to join the Femi and the Gang team as a sportscaster.

Commenting on the essence of the competition, Femi Obong Daniels, the General Manager and Group Head of Sports for Cool FM, Wazobia FM, and Nigeria Info, noted that the Femi and The Gang Fan Battle competition aims to provide football lovers with an opportunity to demonstrate their passion for the sports while also seeking to groom potential young sportscasters that possess the capacity to storm the global-sporting ecosystem with their talents.

“We as a leading sports brand understand the essence of having a strong voice within the Nigerian sports ecosystem. It is on this backdrop that we have created a platform that enables sport-loving Nigerians to test their knowledge on the game of football while they also get the opportunity to develop their flare for sportscasting,” he said.

Expressing her excitement after emerging as the winner of the competition, Success Omonijo stated that she is grateful to the management of Nigeria for both the prize money and also the opportunity to be a part of the Femi and the Gang team.

“I am sincerely thankful to the Femi and the Gang team of Nigeria Info for giving me the opportunity to showcase my knowledge of the game of football. I must admit that it is an incredible moment for me as it has also afforded me the rave privilege to hone my sportscasting skills as I look forward to being a part of Nigeria Info’s sports team,” she said.

The Femi and the Gang “Football Fan Battle” is one of the initiatives of Nigeria Info which seeks to utilise the game of football as a unifying factor to promote youth empowerment across the country.

Nigeria’s leading talk and grassroots entertainment radio brands, Nigeria Info, Cool FM, and Wazobia FM, have hit yet another broadcast milestone as they recently secured the exclusive right to broadcast the English Premier League Games through its partnership with Talksport which is the global audio partner of the English Premier League.

This broadcast partnership strives to provide Nigerians with an unbeatable sport-broadcasting experience which covers the 2022/2023, 2023/2024, and 2024/2025 sporting seasons respectively.

The competition, which would be broadcast across Nigeria Info, Wazobia FM, Arewa Radio, and Cool FM (Kano) would air in English, Pidgin English, and Hausa nationwide in order to address the sporting desires of a wide range of Nigerians.

Commenting on the recent development, Serge Noujaim, the Chief Executive Officer of Cool FM, Wazobia FM, Nigeria Info, and Arewa Radio, noted that the partnership with Talksports will take the broadcast reach of the English Premier League to new heights across the country.

“As a group of leading-radio brands, we fully understand that Nigerians demonstrate a genuine passion for the game of football. This is why we have taken it upon ourselves to engage in a longstanding partnership with Talksport to bring the footballing experiences associated with the English Premier League closer to Nigerians in a unique broadcasting style while also advancing the reach of the competition nationally. This partnership further helps to reaffirm our commitment as a radio group to continue to leverage the power of sports, particularly football, to serve as a unifying factor among the teeming Nigerian populace,” he said.

Speaking on the success of the partnership, Will Morley, the Head of Audio Partnerships at Talksports, stated it has always been a delight to provide Nigeria Info, including its sister stations, the exclusive broadcast rights to air the English Premier League games.

“We are once again delighted to enter a partnership agreement with Nigeria Info and its sister stations to broadcast the English Premier League games to its Nigerian audience for the next three seasons. We are confident that the media group possesses the professional competence to provide Nigerians with quality live coverages of global football-related competitions,” he said.

To catch every moment of the English Premier League games, live commentaries would be broadcast on Nigeria Info, Wazobia FM, Cool FM (Kano), and Arewa Radio nationwide throughout the sporting seasons.