Journalist donates trophy for church football competition

An Imo-based journalist, Odowueze Ubanze, has donated a trophy for the 2026 Imo Baptist Conference Royal Ambassadors football competition, which is coming up this October.

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Mr Ubanze of Channels Television and a counsellor with the Baptist Church, Avu, in Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State, handed over the trophy to the church in Owerri, on Tuesday.

In a brief remark, he said he donated the trophy to the church as part of his contributions to keeping its youth positively busy and also curbing vices.

He expressed the hope that the trophy and the football tournament attached to it would grow into a full-blown competition, with the participants forming a club, capable of competing at the state and national levels.

He thanked the Imo Baptist Conference, the umbrella body of all Baptist Churches in the state, for providing the platform for the tournament and promised to continue to support the church’s mission.

“On behalf of my family and the Baptist Church, Avu, I hereby present this trophy to the Imo Baptist Conference, to the glory of God,” he said.

Receiving the trophy, the President, Imo Baptist Conference, Uzoma Uzoeshi, said it would institutionalise support for the church’s Royal Ambassador Ministry, and give its annual competition a legacy team spirit that would inspire participation for years to come.

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Mr Uzoeshi, a priest, said the donation was coming at a time when youths are facing pressure from idleness, drugs, and crime.

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“We are raising young men, who are strong in spirit, sound in mind and fit in the body because the church that engages its youth on the field will keep them faithful at the altar,” he said.

He thanked the donor for the kind gesture and appealed to good-spirited organisations and individuals to support the gesture.

“Let us join hands, sponsor a team, donate kits, support logistics, so that together we can build a Conference where our youth are won, discipled, and deployed for Christ and community transformation,” the priest said.

(NAN)