African champions , Super Eagles of Nigeria kept hopes of qualifying for the 2015 African Cup of Nations alive, on Wednesday, after defeating Sudan Falcons 3-1 at the National Stadium in Abuja.
Ahmed Musa, who promised Nigerians goals prior to the game, netted two goals in the 48 and 90th minutes while China-based striker, Aaron Samuel, also registered his name on the scoresheet.
The Sudanese lone goal was scored by Salah Ibrahim in the 56th minute.
The African champions came into the match under pressure and bottom of Group A with 1 point from three matches. The Stephen Keshi tutored team drew South Africa and lost to both Congo and Sudan.
With the victory the Super Eagles are third behind table toppers South Africa (7 points) and Congo (six points).
The joyous crowd that flooded the Abuja National Stadium on Wednesday reflected the collective sigh of a relief felt by a nation as the Super Eagles finally won their first game of the 2015 African Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The Eagles are now third in Group A with 4 points after Match Day 4. The Eagles’ next games are against Congo and South Africa on November 15 and 19 respectively.
Business Day
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
4 kidnapped schoolgirls escape from Boko Haram
Four of the more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by the militant Islamist sect Boko Haram in Cameroon have escaped, raising hopes for the young prisoners still held captive, according to a report.
The free girls, all between ages 16 and 18, escaped with the help of a teenage boy prisoner, who managed to get them out of the camp, according to Stephen Davis, a British-Australian negotiator who had tried to bargain with the extremist Islamic group for the schoolgirls’ freedom.
The girls, guided by the setting sun, walked west for three weeks, finally arriving in a Nigerian village, starving and traumatized.
“They were amazing — to first escape and then walk for weeks,” Davis told The Times of London. “They are the only ones that have escaped from a Boko Haram camp.”
Davis said the girls had been told that if they fled Boko Haram, their families would be killed.
Nearly six months have passed since more than 200 girls were snatched from their boarding-school dormitory in northeastern Nigeria by Boko Haram operatives after being awakened by the sound of gunfire.
Their abduction sparked global outrage and a huge campaign calling for their rescue, partly propelled by the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.
Even First Lady Michelle Obama issued a tweet holding a sign emblazoned with the hashtag.
Davis said several attempts to negotiate their release have fallen through.
Advocates have expressed frustration that the world has moved on.
“Even before Ebola and ISIS’s intensified activities, most of the world that stood with #BringBackOurGirls had moved on,” Ibrahim Abdullahi, the Nigerian lawyer who started the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, told The Guardian newspaper.
“But we here in Nigeria and a few others outside haven’t moved on. We have been persistent. We have been tweeting about it every day. We’re doing a daily one-hour sit out in Abuja and weekly in Lagos.”
NY Post
The free girls, all between ages 16 and 18, escaped with the help of a teenage boy prisoner, who managed to get them out of the camp, according to Stephen Davis, a British-Australian negotiator who had tried to bargain with the extremist Islamic group for the schoolgirls’ freedom.
The girls, guided by the setting sun, walked west for three weeks, finally arriving in a Nigerian village, starving and traumatized.
“They were amazing — to first escape and then walk for weeks,” Davis told The Times of London. “They are the only ones that have escaped from a Boko Haram camp.”
Davis said the girls had been told that if they fled Boko Haram, their families would be killed.
Nearly six months have passed since more than 200 girls were snatched from their boarding-school dormitory in northeastern Nigeria by Boko Haram operatives after being awakened by the sound of gunfire.
Their abduction sparked global outrage and a huge campaign calling for their rescue, partly propelled by the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.
Even First Lady Michelle Obama issued a tweet holding a sign emblazoned with the hashtag.
Davis said several attempts to negotiate their release have fallen through.
Advocates have expressed frustration that the world has moved on.
“Even before Ebola and ISIS’s intensified activities, most of the world that stood with #BringBackOurGirls had moved on,” Ibrahim Abdullahi, the Nigerian lawyer who started the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, told The Guardian newspaper.
“But we here in Nigeria and a few others outside haven’t moved on. We have been persistent. We have been tweeting about it every day. We’re doing a daily one-hour sit out in Abuja and weekly in Lagos.”
NY Post
Increased security around Presidential Villa ahead of planned Bring Back Our Girls protest
Security was on Tuesday morning beefed up around the Presidential Villa, Abuja, ahead of a planned protest rally by the BringBackOurGirls (BBOG) campaigners.
The BBOG campaigners are pushing for the rescue of the schoolgirls abducted from the Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, Borno, on April 15.
In a statement by its Media Coordinator, Rotimi Olawale, on Monday in Abuja, the group threatened to march to the Villa on Tuesday “to engage with President Goodluck Jonathan’’.
It said the purpose of the engagement was “to convey the urgency of the girls’ rescue and to hear directly from the president on the status of the rescue efforts by security agencies’’.
The march is scheduled to begin at the Unity Fountain, located close to Transcorp Hilton Hotels, Maitama, and proceed to the State House through the Federal Secretariat. But as at 8.20 a.m. there has been heavy presence of armed security men at the two major gates leading to the Villa, apparently to forestall possible breakdown of order.
At the gate approaching from the Fire Service side of Asokoro, armed policemen and soldiers had been stationed at the traffic light junction before the usual security checkpoint. The same situation played out at the Federal Secretariat end of the entrance.
Armed policemen and soldiers from the Brigades of Guards were stationed at a spot between the Villa Gate and the access road that leads to the National Assembly. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that this is the second attempt by the group to take their protest to the Villa since the girls’ abduction.
In May, the group marched to the Villa where some top government officials, including the Minister of State for FCT, Mrs Olajumoke Akinjide, addressed them on behalf of the president.
Akinjide told them to direct their protest to terrorists and not the government, and urged them to learn from citizens of other countries who do not blame their governments for any terrorist act. (NAN)
Vanguard
The BBOG campaigners are pushing for the rescue of the schoolgirls abducted from the Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, Borno, on April 15.
In a statement by its Media Coordinator, Rotimi Olawale, on Monday in Abuja, the group threatened to march to the Villa on Tuesday “to engage with President Goodluck Jonathan’’.
It said the purpose of the engagement was “to convey the urgency of the girls’ rescue and to hear directly from the president on the status of the rescue efforts by security agencies’’.
The march is scheduled to begin at the Unity Fountain, located close to Transcorp Hilton Hotels, Maitama, and proceed to the State House through the Federal Secretariat. But as at 8.20 a.m. there has been heavy presence of armed security men at the two major gates leading to the Villa, apparently to forestall possible breakdown of order.
At the gate approaching from the Fire Service side of Asokoro, armed policemen and soldiers had been stationed at the traffic light junction before the usual security checkpoint. The same situation played out at the Federal Secretariat end of the entrance.
Armed policemen and soldiers from the Brigades of Guards were stationed at a spot between the Villa Gate and the access road that leads to the National Assembly. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that this is the second attempt by the group to take their protest to the Villa since the girls’ abduction.
In May, the group marched to the Villa where some top government officials, including the Minister of State for FCT, Mrs Olajumoke Akinjide, addressed them on behalf of the president.
Akinjide told them to direct their protest to terrorists and not the government, and urged them to learn from citizens of other countries who do not blame their governments for any terrorist act. (NAN)
Vanguard
Monday, October 13, 2014
Nigeria dropped from Ebola screening list in U.S. and Canada
Following Nigeria’s timely containment of the Ebola virus disease (EVD), which is awaiting the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) certification as an Ebola-free nation, the United States of America and Canada have dropped Nigeria from countries whose nationals will be carefully screened at their major airports while entering the country.
The exclusion of Nigeria from the list has been viewed by industry watchers as another affirmation of the country’s ability to effectively contain the deadly disease from escalating to a national outbreak as it has in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The US over the weekend commenced a detailed check out screening procedure for travellers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea at New York’s John F. Kennedy (JKF) airport and should extend the screening to New Jersey’s Newark, Washington’s Dulles, Chicago’s O’Hare and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airports, later this week.
The new checkout screening procedures for passengers from the Ebola-stricken nations which entails checking of passenger’s temperature and querying of passenger’s recent whereabouts, however, contradicts the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) advice that passenger screening is best done when departing a country, rather than when arriving.
Though there are currently few direct flights from Ebola-affected countries to the U.S, as many West African passengers arrive the U.S on connecting flights from other parts of the world, analysts predict that the new task might be challenging but certainly worth the stress.
Responding to Nigeria’s exclusion from the checklist, Olumide Ohunayo, an immigration expert, said: “It’s a refreshing news and absolute trust in measures that have been put in place by the federal and state governments in combating the EVD.”
The latest move by the US is expected to thoroughly scrutinise 150 travellers per day from the three most affected countries, with the five airports estimated to receive about 94 percent of West African travellers, JFK alone accounting for around 43 percent and Washington Dulles about 22 percent.
Business Day
The exclusion of Nigeria from the list has been viewed by industry watchers as another affirmation of the country’s ability to effectively contain the deadly disease from escalating to a national outbreak as it has in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The US over the weekend commenced a detailed check out screening procedure for travellers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea at New York’s John F. Kennedy (JKF) airport and should extend the screening to New Jersey’s Newark, Washington’s Dulles, Chicago’s O’Hare and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airports, later this week.
The new checkout screening procedures for passengers from the Ebola-stricken nations which entails checking of passenger’s temperature and querying of passenger’s recent whereabouts, however, contradicts the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) advice that passenger screening is best done when departing a country, rather than when arriving.
Though there are currently few direct flights from Ebola-affected countries to the U.S, as many West African passengers arrive the U.S on connecting flights from other parts of the world, analysts predict that the new task might be challenging but certainly worth the stress.
Responding to Nigeria’s exclusion from the checklist, Olumide Ohunayo, an immigration expert, said: “It’s a refreshing news and absolute trust in measures that have been put in place by the federal and state governments in combating the EVD.”
The latest move by the US is expected to thoroughly scrutinise 150 travellers per day from the three most affected countries, with the five airports estimated to receive about 94 percent of West African travellers, JFK alone accounting for around 43 percent and Washington Dulles about 22 percent.
Business Day
NIgeria Super Eagles being sabatoged - Keshi
Read: Ex-SAFA vice-president to fight back
The Super Eagles look set to miss out on the chance to defend the title they won in 2013 after Sudan handed them a 1-0 defeat as they sit rock bottom of Group A after managing just one point from their opening three qualifiers.
And Keshi, who has come under intense criticism since Nigeria's failed 2014 World Cup campaign, says there are internal factors at work which have led to the side's downfall.
“There is a sabotage by some people, who I won’t mention their names but who know themselves. They want to run this team down," Keshi told African Football.
“Some people are ready to sell this country for a dime. They want to sabotage the Super Eagles.”
“It’s a shame. They don’t want this team to get to the AFCON, they want this team to lose outright. But they are not God."
“And this is not Keshi’s team. This is a national team. Keshi is a professional coach and after this (assignment), he will get another job elsewhere.”
Standings: (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points)
South Africa 3 2 1 0 5 0 7
Congo 3 2 0 1 5 4 6
Sudan 3 1 0 2 1 5 3
Nigeria 3 0 1 2 2 4 1
Group A Fixtures: October 15, Wednesday
Nigeria v Sudan, 18:00 (SA time)
South Africa v Congo, 20:00
Sports 24
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