By Austin Tyowua
'What so ever you involved yourself doing without looking forward to a foreseen benefit, you are bound to give your valuable best'.
The above quotation is Hon Chief Mrs Margaret Icheen personified, an Amazon who has given her life to football without looking forward to any monetary or material gain, and has remained resolute about her position, always looking at what she has to offer to football. These qualities stand her out among other contestants for the North Central representative on the Board of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
As a youth football player in a small town called Adikpo in Benue State, I know Mrs Margaret Icheen whose interest in football started with my club called Sir Akpoo System Football Club known for their free flow and possessive style of football, privately owned and sponsored by her stand-in husband. She was passionate and famous with football and was popularly known as 'Madam System'.
She later ventured in to politics and leverage on her popularity with football, contested and won the election as Member Benue State House of Assembly, representing Kwande West Constituency, and would later become Speaker of the house, the first female in West Africa.
She rose steadily in politics and presently is a member PDP Board of Trustees. With all the affluence accompanying her positions in politics, she has continually placed football ahead of any other aspect of her public life.
She is presently a serving her third term as Benue State Football Association Chairman, a congress member of the Nigeria Football Federation, member Female Football Committee and much more.
In her quest to give more to football, she joined the race to get in to the board of Nigeria Football Federation with humility. Given her Pedigree, she would have been gunning for nothing less than the President of the federation, but because she place emphasis on service, she chose to go for board membership.
Mrs Icheen is an educationist by profession, a philanthropist by nature, a politician by calling and a seasoned football administrator by choice and passion.
These compelling qualities, relationship with colleagues and focus to service delivery clearly stands her out as worthy candidate to represent the North Central geopolitical zone on the Board of Nigeria Football Federation, having successfully passed through the rigorous hurdle of screening with two others in the zone.