Nigeria’s leading oil & gas firm,
Petrolex, has partnered Kanu Heart Foundation as title sponsor of the
foundation’s upcoming legends’ charity football game, tagged the
Petrolex Kanu Cup, which will hold in London on September 30, 2018 at
The Hive Stadium, home of Barnet FC.
Proceeds from the football match will go
to the children at the Kanu Heart Foundation who are in dire need of
open-heart surgeries.
The Kanu Heart Foundation is a charity
organisation set up by the Nigerian football legend, Nwankwo Kanu on
July 21, 2000, to help underprivileged African children and young adults
with different heart ailments obtain the cardiac surgical operations.
The Petrolex Kanu Cup, organised by
Masters Football, a London-based events and sports promoter, will
feature an exhibition match between two teams created from Kanu’s rich
football experience: Premier League All Stars vs African All Stars.
While the Premier League stars will be
drawn from teams Kanu played for during his glittering career in the UK
-Arsenal, WBA and Portsmouth, the African All Stars will include many of
the African players who played alongside Kanu or against him.
As main sponsor of the game, the
Chairman of Petrolex, Olusegun Adebutu, stated that “Petrolex is very
delighted to partner the Kanu Heart Foundation on this life-changing
vision, African legend, Nwankwo Kanu has selflessly chosen to champion.
“Our brand is extremely passionate about
impacting lives by focusing on the health and welfare of children and
this underscores most of our other CSR initiatives. The Kanu Heart
Foundation is offering a lifeline to children and young people with
heart ailments who cannot afford the cost of delicate open-heart surgery
and may die without help. The foundation needs all the support it can
get from all well-meaning Nigerians.”
The 42-year-old hero started the
foundation when he conquered a heart problem which threatened to end his
promising career after his Atlanta 1996 gold medal. The foundation has
carried out over 530 open heart surgeries for children since inception.
High-profile legends already confirmed
to participate are Thiery Henry, Robert Pires, Teddy Sheringham, Sol
Campbell, Darren Anderton, Emile Heskey, William Gallas, Emmanuel Eboue
and Michael Essien, to name a few.
The Chairman of Petrolex, Olusegun Adebutu, is also a philanthropist with similar passion.
He runs a foundation for orphans and
vulnerable children called the Oladiran Olusegun Adebutu Foundation. The
foundation which started less than two years ago currently caters for
about 500 children in Petrolex’ host community. His soft spot for
underprivileged children spurred the recent partnership with Kanu Heart
Foundation
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