Sport: I am happy watching all chelsea matches-Ashafa

The need to unwind and relax as a balance to hard work is now a compelling recommendation by health experts. From research, it is discovered that timely and guided relaxation even enhances productivity. Thus, engaging in activities such as working out at the gym and other indoor and outdoor leisure interests is said to help keep stress or any health challenge in check.

As a result, Senator Olugbenga Bareehu Ashafa, Vice-Chairman Senate Committee on Lands, Housing and Urban Development, relaxes by watching his favourite football club, Chelsea. For him, it is the best way to cool off and still keep pace with other engagements.


The fair complexioned lawmaker who was elected senator during the 2011 general election on the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) platform, said whenever he is not playing politics, he reads, travels but most importantly, prefers watching his favourite club, Chelsea. That apart, he also spends time with his wife, children and grandchildren.

Ashafa, who earned his Bachelor of Science from Morgan State University and his Master's of Science from the University of Tennessee, had served in the local government and beverage industry.

He spent eight years working for the local government before moving to the public sector, where he worked in the beverage industry and later joined the former governor of Lagos, Senator Bola Tinubu's gubernatorial campaign.

Prior to his election into the Senate in 2011, Ashafa had put in about three decades to both public and private sectors. This, many believed might have eased his election as he came relatively new to elective politics in 2011.

No wonder he came up with campaign promises short-coded into EYES: Effective representation, Youth empowerment, Educational enhancement and Sustainable agricultural development. According to him, “EYES as a responsive project-package is all embracing in content, service-oriented in its outreach and society-friendly in the delivery of its articulated social responsibility.”

Indeed, in his two years at the senate, his achievements dot the whole of his district.  For instance, in the last 24 months, Ashafa has sponsored and co-sponsored several Bills and motions which include: Income tax holiday Bill for Corporate Companies (sponsored), Bill on the creation of an Agency that will cater for the promotion and
preservation of our local languages (sponsored), Bill on Treaty-Making Process (Amendment Bill) (sponsored) and Bill on Criminal Code (Amendment Bill) (sponsored).

He also has to his credit, Prohibition of Same Sex Marriage Bill (co-sponsored), Motion on the deteriorating Services of GSM operators in Nigeria (sponsored), Motion on the Lagos flood (co-sponsored), Motion on the creation of unemployment data and creation of job centers in the country (co- sponsored), Motion on the solutions to terrorism in Nigeria (co-sponsored) and Motion on the imminent collapse of the third Mainland Bridge (sponsored).

Clearly, he has so much to contend with, both in his personal and official engagements, it is for that reason that he has found the need to strike a balance by watching Chelsea matches to relaxe.