It was 11 days of thrills and frills at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, as the second edition of the Africa Military Games, AMGA, ended yesterday.
It took the organisers, the Organisation of Military Sports in Africa, OSMA, 22 years of wait after the first edition in Kenya in 2002, before staging this year’s edition with the host Nigeria coming out on top after days of hostilities in various sports including football and athletics.
One of the highlights of the Games remains the performance of Team Nigeria in Shooting with Ordinary Seaman Godgrace Godfrey, winning a whopping eight gold medals to emerge the best athlete of the Games.
The Games which was declared open by the president of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, ably represented by the Vice president, Kashim Shettima, was also declared closed by the president as the top echelon of the army across Africa departed Nigeria.
While acknowledging the significance of the Games in strengthening Africa’s collective security efforts, President Tinubu said: “Our collective safety and the well-being of our people demand that we stand together, shoulder to shoulder, as one united Africa, Team Nigeria with the highest number of athletes emerged winner with 114 gold, 64 silver and 53 bronze medals for a total of 231 medals.
Algeria followed in a distant second with a total of 95 medals consisting of 52 gold, 22 silver and 21 bronze with Kenya taking the third position with 7 gold, 14 silver and 15 bronze medals to end the game with 48 medals.
