President Goodluck Jonathan is set to visit Ogun, the home state of former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday.According to a press statement by Adegbenro Adebanjo, the press secretary to the Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel, the president will be on a two day state visit to Ogun.He is expected to unveil the  Sagamu International Stadium among others. 

Apart from the official schedule  however, observers believe the visit will enable the president to confer more closely with the former president who is believed to be wavering of late, in his support for President Jonathan’s 2011 Presidential campaign.Despite Obasanjo open declaration of support for Jonathan in recent past speculation has continued over his increasing disaffection with Jonathan’s moves.

But Jonathan’s supporters are hopeful that  if push comes to shove, Obasanjo may have no choice but to help firm up his relationship with the president, the man he strategically installed as vice president to late President YarAdua.

Read the full text of the press statement announcing Jonathan’s  imminent visit to Ogun state: 

JONATHAN TO UNVEIL OGUN FOURTH INTERNATIONAL STADIUM

The strategic plan of the Otunba Gbenga Daniel administration to make Ogun State the first choice for football and sports administrators whenever the nation is hosting local and international competitions will be consolidated this Friday, November 12, 2010, when President Goodluck Jonathan formally unveils the Sagamu International stadium recently completed by the Government. 

As part of the opening ceremony, President Jonathan who will be undertaking a two day state visit to Ogun would kick off a commemorative match between Gateway United and Bayelsa United Football clubs. Both teams will showcase their skill on the lush green field of the brand new stadium while  some young lads will also take to the tartan tracks in an inter zonal relay competition.

The sparkling sports edifice with a 10,000 capacity main bowl has a ten lane tartan tack for dash and eight lane for sprint. Other Unique features of the stadium situated in the heart of Remoland include a well equipped doping centre, functional restrooms and dressing room chalets. And in line with the requirement of the Federation of International Football Association, FIFA, the stadium which took just over 12 months to construct also  has a state of the art public Address system and a synchronized digital scoreboard.  It also has two tennis courts and two basketball courts and a volleyball court. The stadium which is adjacent the

five star National Youth Service Corp permanent orientation camp also recently completed will come in handy as training venue for the corpers while athletes would also use the NYSC camp as Games Village when the corpers are not in session.  

With the completion of the Sagamu stadium, Ogun now has the distinction of having the highest number of FIFA compliant stadiums in the country with three of them being built in the life of the current administration. The International Stadium in Ijebu Ode and the MKO Abiola International Stadium, Abeokuta, which was totally refurbished, can rank with any in the World and are well above the general average stipulated by the Federation of the International Football Association.  Their Artificial Turf which

FIFA insists as the maximum standard for its competitions are in superb shape. The two stadiums also have all seats galleries and of course Digital video screens which capture proceedings in living colour. The one in Ijebu Ode also comes with a games village and facilities for training for different categories of athletes.   Ogun also has a standard stadium in Ilaro which is good enough to host major football and athletics competitions.

Governor Daniel says investment in sports is critical and strategic since the sector has moved from the realm of a past time to a fully fledged industry with many spin off benefits to Individuals, State and Country. He said Ogun sees sports as an instrument of socio- economic engineering as the hosting of competitions helps the state to constantly improve its general infrastructure, provide temporary and permanent jobs to its

citizens, rev up the pace of economic and commercial activities, promote tourism, generate interest in sports among the young ones and ultimately sell the potentials of the State to National and International audiences. 

Adegbenro Adebanjo

Chief Press Secretary to the Governor