Officials of the Federação Angolana de Futebol, the football-ruling body in Angola, are pulling out all the stops in their determination to get Nigerian-born Primeiro d’Agosto’s influential playmaker Ibukun Akinfenwa to switch nationality and play for the oil-rich Southern African country.
Akinfenwa, fondly called Ibukun by his club supporters, is a firm fans’ favourite and instrumental to the club’s impressive run in the current season where they are top of the Girabola with 38 points from 17 games, two points more than reigning champions and second-placed Recreativo de Libolo.
Such has been the form of Ibukun in the current campaign that talks about a switch of allegiance from Nigeria to Angola, which gained currency last season, has resurfaced again even though there’s been no formal approach from the Angolan authorities.
He said: “I’ve not had a formal talk but I get a lot of banter from my teammates, officials and fans who wonder why I’ve not been given a call-up by Nigeria. They jokingly tell me that’s because I play in John Obi Mikel’s position and that I would be better off taking up Angolan citizenship since Mikel is not planning to retire anytime soon. It’s all friendly talk really, nothing official, but I reckon I could offer a thing or two to the Super Eagles if invited.”
The 25-year old admits he has thought about the prospect of playing for Angola but would rather wait for a call-up to the Nigerian team, particularly since the team is going through a rebuilding process.
“It would be nice to play for Angola. It’s a good country with very decent players. I’ve also made many friends here so the transition should be easy. However, it would be better to wear the green and white of Nigeria. That has been a childhood dream and I want to stake my chance,” he told isoccerng.com from Luanda.
[WATCH IBUKUN’S VIDEO HERE]
Ibukun, in his third season at the Angolan side after making a switch from Portuguese side Farense, has helped Primeiro to maintain a stranglehold on the top of the league title, edging Libolo which snatched the Girabola from the Army team on better head-to-head last season.
D’Agosto are unbeaten in their last five league games and, next Sunday, will travel to struggling 4 de Abril do Cuando who are stuck in 14th place with just one win in their last 12 games.
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