The recent victory of Akwa United Football Club in the 2015 Federation Cup tournament has earned each of the players two million naira and a house while the coach went home with N3 million courtesy of the State Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel.

The Governor splashed the team with the mouth-watering reward at a special banquet held in honour of the players and team officials at Government House, Uyo.

At the event, the visibly excited Governor Emmanuel congratulated the team for the victory, noting that the feat has demystified a challenge that has eluded the state since 1964 to make history as champions of the tournament.

He said the team narrowly escaped relegation and defied football permutation to emerge champions and brought the trophy to the state adding that the feat which rekindles the social re-orientation Dakkada ideology, has secured the team’s participation in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) competition scheduled for next year.

Governor Emmanuel described football as a unifying factor and advised the people to sink the wall of ethnicity and acrimony and be focus on a collective goal that will open the floodgate of opportunities for the state and the players as they gear up for the continental football league which the state will co-host in the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium.

The immediate past Governor and Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, described the victory as a dream come true and the beginning of greater things to come to the state. He enjoined the people to align themselves with the aspirations of Governor Udom’s administration and congratulated the players for the victory cautioning them not to bask in the euphoria of the victory but should sustain the feat in the continental league.

The Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Mr Monday Uko, who set the tone for the event, attributed the victory to God’s benevolence and said that the Governor’s motivational interaction with the players prior to the match had inspired the team to victory.

He expressed appreciation to the Governor for the initial one hundred million naira injected into the team and said that the funds had cleared outstanding indebtedness and also addressed sundry issues affecting the club.

Mr Uko particularly thanked the stakeholders in the likes of James Etokebe, Friday Ekpo, Paul Bassey and Umoh Bassey, whose wealth of experience has enliven the players and make the team come out top in the tournament, acknowledging that Akwa United Football Club has produced Ubong Friday who scored six goals to emerge highest goal scorer in the Federation Cup competition.

The banquet which featured comedy shows, cultural display and musical performances was graced by sport enthusiasts, political class, technocrats, business moguls and people of the state.

•Photo shows Akwa United celebrating their 2015 Federation Cup triumph.