Ikoyi Club implores Nigerians to be hopeful

Despite job and financial losses, as well as closure of businesses induced by COVID-19, Ikoyi Club 1938 has implored Nigerians not to lose hope.

The club’s anniversary committee chairman, Tafa Zabiri Aliu, in a briefing to announce activities to mark the club’s 82nd anniversary, said the theme of this year’s celebration is ‘the uplifting of hope’, noting that during the lockdown, the club was shut down for over five months.

He said: “Many people lost hope and the club also lost some of our members. That is why the event today has been designed to be solemn in order for us to remember our fallen heroes.

“We also thought how we could create awareness to bring our people back and since we conceived the theme, people bought into it as they felt they shouldn’t think of the past, but the future. Let us be hopeful that something positive is coming. “The pandemic has come, it will surely go. We should not lose hope. It is only a dead man that does not think about the future, but if you are still alive, there is hope. All we need to do is to adhere to the protocols of COVID-19.”

Chairman of the club, Abayomi Orenuga noted that traditionally, the club’s anniversary is a one-week celebration filled with several events but had to be scaled down this year in accordance with the mood of the moment.

According to him, the celebration gives the opportunity to reflect on past history and achievements of over eight decades of existence, while building on the bond and friendship, which has contributed to our success and progress as Nigeria’s foremost recreational club.

“Our esteemed club has transformed in terms of activities, modern facilities and membership since the merger of European Club and Lagos Club on September 29, 1938; when the name was formerly changed to Ikoyi Club 1938,” he said.