Amawbia Town on Sunday made history as the community of intellectuals broke the jinx to emerge winner of the 2020/2021 Obizi Unity Cup competition for all the communities domiciled in the Obizi Dynasty and Awka South Constituency Two ably represented by its lawmaker and legislator, Hon. Chief Chukwuma Okoye.
Amawbia defeated Nibo 5-4 via penalty shootouts after 90 minutes of regulation time in an entertaining and keenly contested grand finale of the championship played at the Central School Football pitch (Aguogba) Amawbia. To get to this stage, the Amawbia community had earlier on beaten Umuawulu via penalties in the Semi-Finals.
In an interview with Sports247, the Benefactor of the Competition and the member representing Awka South Two Constituency at the Anambra State House of Assembly, Honourable Chief Chukwuma Okoye stated that the essence of the competition is to unite the seven communities of the Obizi Kingdom via sports and recreational activities, Hon. Okoye also opined that the competition also provided the platform to engage the youths of the seven communities meaningfully and for them to display their God’s given talent.
The legislator stated that hitherto to the finals, he coordinated a #Walk4Fitness exercise which brought together the elderly, the youths and the young ones in Awambia as well as the Traditional Ruler of the town and top government officials of Amawbia extraction and beyond. He disclosed that palpable peace exists within Amawbia town and the #Walk4Fitness programme provided an avenue to strengthen the unity and peaceful coexistence amongst the indigenes and non-indigenes of the Amawbia Town. Hon. Okoye also eulogized the coordinator of the competition, Mr Ifeanacho Ogu popularly known as ‘Ability’ for his doggedness, fighting spirit and goal-oriented moves in ensuring that the competition has thrived for five years and running remains fluid and intact.
The 2020/21 Obizi Unity Cup had earlier commenced with a novelty football match between Awka South and Awka North Local Government Areas. Amawbia, the winners of the competition smiled home with six hundred thousand Naira, while Nibo who finished in second place took home four hundred thousand Naira with Nise town taking home the sum of three hundred thousand Naira for emerging third in the competition. There were also individual prizes such as Best Behaved Team which went to Ezinator, Highest Goal Scorer which went to Striker Prosper of Nibo, Best Goalkeeper accolade went to Miracle Ejima of Amawbia Town while the Most Valuable Player of the competition went to Jideofor of Amawbia Town.
Obizi Kingdom is made up of seven communities, Amawbia, Nibo, Nise, Umuawulu, Mbaukwu, Ezinator and Isiagu.