Samson Siasia appointed as new Super Eagles coach

Former Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Association, NFA, coach Kashimawo Laloko has described Samson Siasia 's appointment as the new Super Eagles coach as a beginning of a new era in the country's football.

Laloko said that Siasia knows where the shoe pinches, pointing out that he is on ground and has the knowledge on how to get the best out of the players while his consistency with Nigerian football would bring the problem of the game to an end.

Laloko urged Nigerians to be patient with the former Super Eagles striker saying he is not a magician but has the charisma to bring back the country's lost glory in football both in Africa and the world.

The former handler of the defunct Stationary Stores football club of Lagos said appointing Stephen Keshi would have looked like hiring a foreign coach .

"Siasia's appointment is going to bring change to the country's football. He knows where the problems lie and he is presently handling Heartland football club of Owerri in our local league.

"I know what Siasia can do, he has the charisma to carry the players along and as well transform the Super Eagles. He goes to the nooks and crannies of the country to fish out talents from nowhere. We all saw it with the U-20 team in 2005 both in Benin during the Africa Youth Championship and World Youth championship in Holland.

"Again the same happened when he qualified the country for the Beijing Olympics football game final three years later and the team won silver medal. What I am saying is that the right man has been given the job.

"I am not saying that Keshi is not good for the job, but bringing him to take over as the coach is like hiring a foreign coach to handle the team", Laloko surmised.

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Five hostages taken from oil rig

Five people were taken hostage on Monday from an oil rig off the coast of Nigeria.

Two of them are believed to be French, according to a French Foreign Ministry spokesperson. The rig in the Delta region was attacked early Monday morning, according to the company that overseas it.

"We have indications concerning the abduction off Lagos and the possible presence of two French nationals among the people abducted," said French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero. "We are looking to confirm these indications."

The British company that oversees the rig, Afren, said only that the oil rig in the Okoro oil fields was attacked and five crew members were likely taken hostage. Two other crew members were wounded.

"Two crew members are stable after receiving wounds to the leg, and have been evacuated by helicopter to a shore-based clinic," said the company in a statement.

The nationalities of the five hostages were not given, but a security source told the AFP news agency that there were two French, two Americans and a Canadian.

Kidnappings are frequent in the Niger Delta, Nigeria's oil production heartland, with groups calling for a better distribution of the country's oil wealth.

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FIFA boss condemns vote sting

A senior FIFA figure has condemned an undercover investigation into World Cup bidding as "unethical".

The probe by the Sunday Times led to the suspension of two FIFA executive committee members, Nigeria's Amos Adamu and Tahiti's Reynald Temarii.

They were suspended after allegations that they asked for money for projects in return for World Cup votes.

The newspaper also alleged that Qatar's 2022 bid has colluded with the Spain/Portugal 2018 bid.

Mohamed Bin Hammam, the Qatari president of the Asian Football Confederation and a member of the executive committee which will vote on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts, has now expressed doubts about the fairness of the newspaper's investigation.

His remarks will increase concerns that England's 2018 bid may suffer from a backlash by Fifa members unhappy at the Sunday Times sting and a programme currently being worked on by BBC Panorama.

Bin Hammam said on his website: "Forging identity, fabricating evidence and setting traps are unethical behaviours in my point of view.

"One thing about Middle East media, these are rare happenings there.

"Is it ethical to use unethical measures to protect the ethic?

"How can we serve justice and look for fairness by not acting justly and fairly? How will we clean dirty laundry by using dirty water?"

Bin Hammam also echoed FIFA president Sepp Blatter in conceding it was a mistake to have the 2018 and 2022 votes on the same day, 2 December.

He said: "We all underestimated the passion for the game around the world; we miscalculated how much football has influence over the feelings of people.

"By admitting that mistake, FIFA executive committee members realised how much it is impossible to demand from their member associations not to talk to each other about their bid.

"The World Cup is the largest business of FIFA. Collusion will always have a chance to happen as far as two bids will be decided together, but we all pray that no corrupted collusion will find its way to the bids."

Bin Hammam also revealed it was Uefa president Michel Platini who made the decisive intervention to prevent the 2022 vote being postponed until next year when he told last Friday's meeting 'we cannot change the rule of the game during the game'.

Daily Trust

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5 year-old boy hangs self

Panic gripped the people of Moferere, a suburb of Ajilosun quarters in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State at the weekend as a five-year-old boy, Feranmi Oloyede, hanged himself on a tree within the compound his parents lived.

The development has heightened the suspicion in the State Capital that some dare devil men must have perpetrated the act.

Though, the deceased, whose mother trades in wine at a shopping complex at Moferere junction, was suspected to be playing with a rope hanging from the tree when the incident occurred.

It was reliably gathered that the little boy, identified as a pupil of St. Luis Nursery and Primary School, Ikere-Ekiti, got access to the rope by mounting a high bench which had long been abandoned near the tree.

His lifeless body was said to have been discovered on the tree, which precluded anybody from rendering any help that could bring him back to life.

Feranmi's parents were said to have been kept in an undisclosed location within the state, probably to prevent being disturbed by sympathisers and other interested individuals.

Responding to the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Mr. Mohammed Jimoh, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), said the incident was not reported to the police.

Sources close to the parents of the boy said his remains had since been buried.

Daily Champion

Smuggled weapons seized in Nigeria

Nigeria security services seize hundreds of weapons in shipping containers. CNN's Christian Purefoy reports.

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