Today, the entire Nigerian Shooting Sports Federation’s fraternity rejoices with the immediate past President of the Federation, an accomplished retired military personnel and reformer, Brigadier-General Lonsdale Oladeji Adeoye on the unique occasion of your birthday anniversary celebration.

Sir, your Midas touch since assumption of office in 2017 has helped to galvanize support and awareness to Shooting Sports and given us a global positive colouration. At a point when the NSSF was moribund, your charismatic leadership style brought it back to life and gave it a new zest to the admiration of all and sundry, including the current Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Hon. Sunday Dare, who paid a visit to the NSSF facilities in Abuja last year.

You have repeatedly proven your mettle and capacity to deliver on the task before you by organizing series of local championships and facilitated the NSSF participation at international championships aimed at talents discovery and promotion of the sports.

To give the NSSF a global branding, image and awareness, you became the first Sports Federation President under the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development to organize and host sports journalists in the country to two consecutive three-days Shooting Sports Workshop and Championship to acquaint them with the necessary knowledge of the game and how to report it.

Through your exemplary leadership, both the Nigerian and global societies got to know about the existence of Shooting Sports in the world’s most populous black nation.

You have and continue to galvanize and encourage local and foreign investors to commit to the growth and development of shooting sports in Nigeria in myriads of ways.

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Yours is to have the best shooters for the country who can conquer their counterparts from any part of the world at any meet, and to have one of the best environments for development and hosting of shooting championships, whether local, regional, continental or global.

Your life resonates a lot, your leadership is exemplary, your words are soothing, and you are a man of many enviable attributes.

You are a man of influence, a man of impact, a man of wisdom, a man of many attributes that everyone will love
to emulate and you are the kind of man whose nature is rare.

Though you have not attained this height without challenges, but at every stage, you came out victorious, including how you escaped death by the whiskers in Kano State on 22nd July, 2020, when your car was involved in a ghastly accident in a trip to meet relevant stakeholders to help develop shooting sports in that state and the entire North-West region. No one expected you to survive such accident as your jeep was damaged beyond recognition, but God kept you because you have some unfinished businesses at the NSSF and the world.

Sir, you have come a long way to be someone we all admire so much and we pray you will continue to rise from grace to grace.

May the good Lord bless you and continue to lead you aright as you will soon return to steer the affairs of the Nigerian Shooting Sports Federation to greater heights.

Congratulations and happy birthday anniversary, sir!!!

Eche Amos