By Editor
In what appears his first official assignment after he was appointed as the Patron of Ekiti State Chess Association, Prof Bolaji Aluko yesterday, made a generous donation of Chess equipment for the Association as his contribution to the development of the popular indoor game in the State.
The sports-loving Prof Aluko who doubles as the Commissioner for Infrastructure and Public Utilities presented the items to the officials of the Sports Ministry on behalf of the Association’s Chairman, Dr. Ayodeji Oluwayemi at a brief event in his office.
Speaking while unveiling the items comprising three Chess sets and three Chess clocks, Prof Aluko stated that before his acceptance to be the Patron of Chess Association in Ekiti State, he had been involved in chess activities in time past.
According to him: “Chess is a passion that I had way back which dated to my secondary school days but it was when I got to the university that my passion for Chess came to the limelight. I had a number of Government College students who were in the same hostel as myself at Ife. They used to beat me a lot in Chess until finally I decided to teach myself Chess in the real sense of the word, studied it over at summer, came back and beat them all.
“I later became the Secretary of the Chess Club after which I convinced my father to donate a cup for Chess tournament and I won it the first year and won it the second year before I left Ife”
Speaking in similar vein, the Chairman of the Association, Dr. Oluwayemi thanked the donor for his love for sports in the state saying that Prof Aluko has shown tremendous support to other sports activities besides Chess which he has deep passion for.
He joined other well meaning Ekiti indigenes to emulate the philanthropist gesture of Prof Aluko by contributing their quotas to the development of sports in the state and join hands with the Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s commitment to ensure that sports take a pride of place in his developmental agenda while making further request for Chess tables and boards.
The high point of the unveiling of the items was an opening game between the donor and Dr Oluwayemi where Prof Aluko proved his dexterity in the game with a convincing win.
Present at the occasion are: Director Team Sports, Coach Ayegbeni, Director, Individual Sports, Adewumi Adekunle, Secretary Ekiti State Chess Association, Funmilola Akomolafe and Chess Coach, Tope Fatoba.
The program was anchored by ace Sports journalist and Chairman Ekiti SWAN, Quazeem Oladapo who used the occasion to name Prof Aluko as the Grand Patron of SWAN in Ekiti.
