Adegbesan Vows To Reposition Scrabble In Ogun State

Newly sworn-in chairman of Ogun State Scrabble Association Adekoyejo Adegbesan (right) speaking with the media

BY OLOGUNWA PAUL SHOLA

Chairman of the newly inaugurated board of the Ogun State Scrabble Association Adekoyejo Adegbesan has revealed that his mission of reactivating the sport is a call to duty.

Adegbesan was on Wednesday sworn in with members of his seven-man board along with 35 other sports at the M.K.O Stadium, Abeokuta by the state’s Director of Sports Iyabode Rotimi who represented the Permanent Secretary.

She called for cooperation between the Sports Associations and the Ministry especially as the state prepares for the 2022 National Sports Festival set to be hosted by Delta State from November 2-15.

Adegbesan would run the affairs in the state with Lukeman Owolabi as Vice-Chairman.

Other members are Bimbo Okusanya, Bukunmi Afolayan and Lawrence Adesola while Tayo Ogunseye would serve as the Media Officer with Kehinde Osho as the secretary.

The Sheikh as he is fondly called believed the desire to discover more talents and bring them into the national limelight makes it imperative for him to take up the reins in the state.

“It’s a great opportunity, you know, to finally get to this point where the new chairmen and the board of sports associations are inaugurated in the state.  It’s a call to duty that we will take very firmly. It is our aim to succeed and that we will do with the aid of well-meaning individuals and sponsors and every other thing that will make us succeed.”

“The catchy thing about Scrabble is, there’s a World Scrabble Championship, right? Nigeria has consistently been the best-performing country in the world. Scrabble is played in major countries and a lot of people play Scrabble in their homes, so Scrabble has listening ears already, so we just need to put some more work and make it a more spectator-friendly sport. We’re hopeful as everything points to the fact that Scrabble will get to that position where football.”

He said part of the plan was to make the various zones in the state active while competitions would be organised among schools.

He also revealed that the association would seek ways of engaging individuals who are out of school.

After the event, members of the board paid a courtesy call on the Scrabble Section of the Abeokuta Sports Club where they rubbed minds on how to move the mind game to a higher level.

Earlier, the board had inspected the playing hall at the Ogun State Sports Centre with a view to making it more conducive for use.