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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."
Chukwu, who has been a
professional footballer in South Africa since 1997, said
that the idea of taking a local girl back to Nigeria would
not be a bad one after all.
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