Raphael Chukwu Offered a Bride To Stay with Sundowns

(Tuesday, 17th July, 2001)
By Miebi Senge

A DIE hard South African soccer lover, David Lamola, has offered Nigerian footballer Raphael Chukwu Ndukwe any one of his two daughters as his wife for free, in a desperate move to stop the Sundown’s top scorer from leaving for Europe.

The fanatical Sundown supporter made the unusual offer after reports that the Nigerian striker was leaving his South African club side to join Italian club Bari.

"He can have either of my daughters without paying ‘lobola’ (bride prize) as long as he stays with us (the club)," said an unperturbed Lamola, while referring to his daughters, 24 year-old Lerato and Raisibe (22).

The Southern Africa correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes the 52 year-old retired police sergeant as saying that he was making the offer to Chukwu to induce him to stay with the Pretoria team.

Lerato, a police constable at a local police station, surprisingly, agreed with her father’s overture.

"If my father is happy with that, so am I," said Lerato, adding that much against popular belief that girls were closer to their mothers, she got along well with her father.

"I am also a Sundowns fan," she added.

Her younger sister Raisibe, who has just completed a public administration diploma programme at Technikon Northern Gauteng, could only manage a wry smile at the overture.

A pleasantly surprised Chukwu said that he was prepared to catch a glimpse of the ladies before making his decision.

"I must first see the ladies before I can make a final decision as to who my future wife will be," Chukwu said, adding: "I’m also thrilled by the prospect of not having to pay a cent to marry her."