Sunshine Stars FC midfielder, Dayo Ojo has said his return to the club will help rescue Akure Gunners from the prolonged threat of relegation as the 2016/2017 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) season draws to a close.
With the league reaching Match Day 28 this Sunday, the former Al-Merrikh SC midfielder declared that it will be unheard of that the former CAF Champions League campaigners will be competing in the lower cadre of Nigerian football.
Ojo is surprised that the team has struggle even with the quality of players who are part of the campaign hence he is not mincing words in expressing confidence that with Duke Udi now in charge, they will escape the drop.
“I returned for a purpose and that is to rescue Sunshine Stars from the drop. I have sampled the opinion of the players and with the quality they possess, I don’t think they will allow the club to go on relegation.
“Their quality was the reason I chose to play again for Sunshine when I returned from Sudan. It’s a taboo to see Sunshine Stars of Akure in the lower division and not the premier league,” Ojo told npfl.ng.
The Akure Gunners where banished to Ijebu-Ode after they were involved in crowd trouble and pundits have already summed the team’s season as a complete failure with the prediction that playing away from their traditional home ground will cost them their league status at the end of the season.
But the midfielder thinks otherwise, insisting that having played at the Dipo Dina Stadium in the past and on the continent, with relative success achieved, Ijebu-Ode is seen as a home for the club.
“We have played our home games at the Ijebu-Ode stadium in the past. In fact, we played both NPFL and CAF Champions League games there and I must say we were successful in our different campaigns, so I don’t think playing in Ijebu-Ode will affect us in any way,” Ojo pointed out.
Meanwhile, the former Rising Stars of Akure player has charged the supporters and fans to rally behind the club unconditionally as they aim to stay in the NPFL and avoid the dreaded drop.
Sunshine will be on the road this weekend as they battle Abubakar Bukola Saraki FC at the Ilorin Township Stadium in a Match day 28 encounter in the NPFL.
Source: Leadership
