Mikel denies giving cash to Nigeria Olympics teammates

Nigeria captain John Obi Mikel has denied media reports that he donated $30,000 to assist his cash-strapped teammates in the country's Olympics team.

The Nigeria under-23 squad, together with select overage players like Mikel, are training in Atlanta ahead of next month's Olympics in Brazil.

Reports on Thursday claimed that Mikel had pitched in with the money to assist the team, but the Chelsea star told ESPN FC there was no truth to them.

"I was first told of this story by a friend who called me from Nigeria," Mikel said from camp at Hyatt Place. "I thought he was joking until he sent me the link.

"I don't know the source of this story, which to me is all out to divide us as a team. I would have thought that stories that should be coming out in the media are stories that will unite the team instead of dividing us.

"Our target in Rio is to excel, but if they continue like this, then I wonder how we can be united.

"To me, this is just mere distraction that won't help this team going into a major tournament like the Olympics."

Nigeria will face Japan, Sweden and Colombia in the group stage, beginning Aug. 4 in Manaus.

ESPN

Task force recaptures town in Nigeria

A multinational task force battling Boko Haram said on Thursday it had recaptured the only town in northeast Nigeria's Borno state that was still held by the Islamist militant group.

Boko Haram, which formed in Borno, has waged an insurgency since 2009 to carve out a state based on sharia (Islamic law) in the northeast of Africa's most populous country. More than 15,000 people have been killed and some 2.4 million displaced.

Damasak, captured by Boko Haram in October 2014, was part of an area around the size of Belgium that the jihadist group controlled in northeast Nigeria by the end of 2009.

Its attacks have spread to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, which prompted those nations to combine troops to form the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF).

MNJTF spokesman Colonel Mohammad Dole said troops cleared militants from Dutse, a village in Niger, before moving to the Nigerian border town Damasak around 10 a.m. (0900 GMT).

"In continuation with clearance operation of towns and villages, troops of Sector 4 in Diffa (Niger) have successfully cleared Dutse village, captured and occupied Damasak town," he said.

"The forces are coordinating to stabilize the immediate environs," he added.

The troops were supported by an air force from MNJTF member states, he said. More than 30 Nigerian soldiers have been killed in previous attempts to recapture Damasak.

Since a push early last year led by the Nigerian army, supported by troops from neighboring states, most of the territory has been seized back from the militants but the group still stages guerrilla attacks in the region.

Reuters

Unicef suspends Aid to Nigeria

The United Nations Children’s Fund has temporarily suspended humanitarian operations in northern Nigeria, where as many as half a million people need assistance, after gunmen attacked a convoy and wounded two aid workers.

Unknown assailants ambushed the convoy on Thursday as it was traveling from Bama to Maiduguri, the capital of northeastern Borno state, a stronghold of Islamist militant group Boko Haram, Unicef said in a statement posted to its website. A Unicef employee and an International Organization for Migration contractor were injured and are being treated at a local hospital, it said.

“The convoy was in a remote area of northeastern Nigeria, where protracted conflict has caused extreme suffering and has triggered a severe malnutrition crisis,” it said.

Two soldiers were also wounded in the attack by suspected Boko Haram members, Nigerian army spokesman Sani Usman said in an e-mailed statement.

More than 500,000 people are living in “catastrophic conditions” in Borno state, Medecins Sans Frontieres said this week. At least 2.7 million people have been forced from their homes by the violent campaign by Boko Haram since 2009 to impose its version of Islamic law in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country of about 180 million.

Bloomberg

Turkey wants Nigeria to close 17 schools in the country due to failed coup

Turkey has turned to Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria, in its continued crackdown on all elements linked to the failed coup of July 15.

Local media sources in Nigeria report that the Turkish ambassador to the country, Hakan Cakil, has requested the Federal government to close down 17 schools that have links to the alleged mastermind of the failed overthrow, United States based Fetullah Gulen.

“In Nigeria, there are 17 schools, which belong to the Gulen Movement, one in Kano, one in Kaduna, one in Abuja, Lagos etc and they are offering scholarships. We are starting some legal procedures to take the name of Turkey out of the name of the schools. They are not the schools of the Turkish government,’‘ Cakil is reported by Vanguard online portal to have said.

The ambassador made the call when he met with vice chairman of Nigeria’s senate foreign affairs committee, Senator Shehu Sani. The ambassador emphasized that his country had nothing to do with the said schools.

He further disclosed that plans were far advanced at the federal government level to ensure that Turkey’s request is affirmed. “We are requesting the Nigerian Government to close down the schools. I have requested officially, both orally and in writing, the closure of these schools,’‘ he added.

The Erdogan led government meanwhile continues its massive purge in several areas of its society back home in light of the recently failed coup attempt which the government insists was led by Gulen, even though he has repeatedly denied the accusations.

The ‘African purge’ of Turkey’s coup plotters started in Somalia where the government ordered all charities linked to Gulen to leave the country. The Turkish government has said that it would take over operations of all the abandoned charities which include educational institutions and medical facilities.

A day after the failed coup, people in Somalia gathered to protest and strongly condemn the actions of those behind the coup, while celebrating their failure to overthrow Erdogan.

Draped with Somali and Turkish flags and portraits of the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan as well as the Somali leader, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the protesters marched through the city and gathered near the Turkish embassy, where they declared their support for the embattled Turkish government.

Africa News

Video - ‘Super highway’ plans raise environmental concerns in Nigeria

Some Nigerians have been protesting a government plan to build a super highway through a rainforest.

The proposed highway will cut through the Ekuri rainforest in the southern Cross River State.

Residents and environmentalists say the highway will damage the environment and lead to the loss of rare and endangered plants and wildlife.