Invitational tourney: Maureen Mmadu sends SOS to govt, Danish embassy
By Ifeanyi Eduzor
Former Super Falcons player, Maureen Mmadu has made a passionate appeal to the Nigerian Government, Anambra State Governor Prof. Charles Soludo and other well meaning Nigerians to appeal to Danish Embassy to issue her team visa to enable them travel to Denmark for an invitational tournament.
Her team Maureen Mmadu Academy is expected to participate in an invitational tournament starting next week in Denmark but expressed regrets that the Danish Embassy in Lagos denied them visa at the last minute after they’ve gotten assurances that their visa application will be granted.
“We’re supposed to embark on this trip two years ago but COVID-19 Pandemic disrupted the plans. Right now we’ve done all the paper work, applied for the visa more than six months ago and paid the necessary visa fees while the organizers of the tournament has communicated the Embassy through series of letters about our coming to Denmark but to our greatest surprise the Danish Embassy after giving us assurances that our visa application will be approved, suddenly made a U- turn claiming that our visa application came late which is not correct.
“This ugly situation has made the girls desolate and one of them even fainted at the Embassy when the news was broken to us.
“When you look at the players, you will discover that none of them is my daughter, sister or cousin. They come from various states of the Federation and my plan is to give the girl child hope through football that made me and that was why I set up this academy in Onitsha Anambra State but this shoody treatment by the Embassy is capable of causing physchological and mental problems to the girls and that’s why I am calling on Nigerian government to intervene in the matter.
Mmadu who announced that she has spent close to N10 million on the trip noted that at a stage, wife of Anambra State Governor promised to come to their aide but she has not been forthcoming which prompted her to appeal to Anambra State Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo to use his good offices and make them embark on the trip which she believes will give adequate exposure to her players.
“I’ve spent close to N10 million preparing for the trip. The team has been in Lagos for close to three weeks now with me taking care of their feeding, accommodation, transportation and other logistics. At a stage I even got across to the wife of Anambra State Governor and some religious leaders in the state for help but right now the Anambra State First Lady no longer pick my calls and I’m using this medium to appeal to Governor Soludo to help us since I believe that the Federal Government and Government of Anambra State have the capacity to make the Danish Embassy see reason why they should approve our visa and make the trip happen.
“As a person who have played all over Europe, I understand what these girls are going to gain participating in the tournament and that’s why I don’t want them to miss this one in a life time opportunity because the tournament can be a turning point in their career,” she concluded.
