BY SAB OSUJI

Abubakar Bukola Saraki, ABS, Football Club of Ilorin are back in the second tier league, Nigeria National League, NNL, just weeks after the club relinquished the position during the NNL Relegation playoff in Kano, Exclusivenews.com.ng reports.

The big, cheering news was broken in Ilorin Saturday as the city went wild with ecstatic jubilation.

That was not all that sparked the massive celebration. It was a tripod event Saturday in the Ilorin city.

Aside the breaking the good news of ABS FC return to the pro league, the club equally unveiled Danlamin Umar as its technical helmsman.

Again, the club revealed plans to open a nationwide talent hunt which will be conducted in the six geo-political zones of the country.

Chief Alloy Chukwuemeka, Director of Football, for ABS FC, said during Danlamin Umar's official presentation to the media on Saturday in Ilorin that the decision of the owners of the club to bring them back to professional status was to 'satisfy the yearning of their teeming fans', who believe that a big club like ABS FC with their status in Nigerian football should not be playing in the amateur league.

The Director of Football would go on to give firm assurance that to their fans and supporters that the club would galvanise all the available resources and support from the owners to ensure that they gained promotion to the NPFL.

“We have a mandate to not only sustain the professional status of the club but also to galvanise all available resources and strategies to gain promotion to the elite league, the NPFL”, the club's boss said.

Similarly, Chukwuemeka mandated the newl coach, Danlamin Umar to work efficiently to earnestly achieve the promotion mandate.

Umar promised that the club's promotion target, which was the mandate handed down to him was 'achievable' and called for the support of football stakeholders to succeed in his assignment.

The new technical boss also added that Kwara state remains his s'econd home'.

Presentation of new Players Talent Development Programme of ABS FC targeted at exporting 30 players annually to Europe and other foreign countries climaxed Saturday afternoon's sports rendezvous.

The scouting programme, which will hold in the six geo-political zones with centres in Kaduna, Bauchi, Ilorin, Ado Ekiti, Owerri and Calabar, is centred on the selection of exceptionally talented players between the ages of 18--21.