The third place playoff is the match no semi-finalist wants to play in. Nigeria and Tunisia had to settle for this meaningless battle for the wooden spoon after succumbing to Algeria and Senegal last Sunday. You wouldn’t have known this from how coach Gernot Rohr celebrated at the final whistle, grinning from ear to ear like the cat who got the cream. He always said his target was to reach the semis and it appeared, especially against Algeria on Sunday, that the coach was limiting the Super Eagles by his low expectations.

Many Nigerian fans and their players go into tournaments believing they can win it. Even approaching into their first ever World Cup in 1994, players such as Jay-Jay Okocha were claiming that they were capable of winning the trophy. When asked if he will be marking Diego Maradona against Argentina, Okocha replied that Maradona was the one who should mark him! This sort of self belief, some say arrogance, is typical of a Nigeria player. They play to win. Rohr’s mindset in this tournament has been about playing to avoid losing.

Hypocritical former president Olusegun Obasanjo wrote yesterday to President Muhammadu Buhari complaining about all manner of ills plaguing Nigeria from insecurity to unemployment to incompetence. He wrote a similar letter in January last year.

Obasanjo would like Nigerians to ignore the role he played in Buhari winning the (s)election in 2015. That role included presenting Buhari as capable of dealing with Nigeria’s problems and writing an 18-page letter to then incumbent Goodluck Jonathan in 2013, complaining about the very same issues that Buhari has failed to remedy. Obasanjo also contributed in foisting Jonathan on Nigerians.

Obasanjo was president from 1999 to 2007, a period in which he did very little to curb the challenges he is now in the business of writing letters about. In fact, Nigeria’s literary giant Chinua Achebe was moved to write Obasanjo about his misrule when he tried to honour Achebe with a national award in 2004.

Rohr’s supporters may claim that he is handicapped by the talent at his disposal. This is certainly not the Nigeria of Jay-Jay Okocha, Finidi George, Nwankwo Kanu and so on. But Rohr has clearly not made the best of what he has available. It is hard to see any Nigerian player that is performing better because of the coach. Teams like Madagascar have played better football, showed more invention, better teamwork and organisation than Nigeria, despite having players of lesser quality. This must be on the coach’s head. The football is just as disjointed as it was the day he took over.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry says it has summoned Nigeria’s chargé d’affaires to the country to express concern over reports of Nigerian Muslim leader Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky’s deteriorating health condition.

Nigeria’s big central defender William Troost-Ekong was the man for the big occasion for his country as he scored the winner with two minutes of regular time left in a pulsating Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal in Cairo. The game was tied 1-1 and seemed heading towards extra time when winger Moses Simon, who had come on in the 80th minute for captain Ahmed Musa, swung in a corner that should have been either saved or punched away easily by Ronwen Williams in the South Africa goal. Instead, he flapped at the cross, leaving Troost-Ekong to sneak in at the back-post and tap into an unprotected goal. It was pure anguish for South Africa and ecstasy for the Nigerians.

It was a thoroughly rewarding evening’s work for Ighalo, who has three goals in this tournament, making him currently the joint top scorer alongside the more celebrated Sadio Mane of Senegal, despite sharply dividing opinion among Nigerian fans. He may miss a few, but Ighalo is without a doubt the most accomplished finisher among the current crop of Nigeria internationals with 14 in 32 matches. The Nigerian front-man has scored goals wherever he has played from Watford in England to Granada in Spain to China. He will fancy his chances against the South African defence on Wednesday in Cairo’s quarter final. Ighalo said after his lion-taming session that “we will go all the way”.

A large group of protesters gathered in front of the United Nations offices in the Iranian capital to demand the immediate release of top Nigerian Muslim cleric Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, who is still being kept in government prisons despite suffering from major health issues.

The 25-year-old is Chelsea’s longest-serving current player but is ready for a move. First, though, he wants to win the Africa Cup of Nations again

Shortly before playing for Nigeria in the 2014 World Cup, Kenneth Omeruo browsed a list of young players to watch at the tournament and discovered his own name, slotted in next to that of Raphaël Varane. He was 20 then; in the preceding two years he had joined Chelsea and starred in an Africa Cup of Nations success. It was some way to begin a career and at that point anybody would be forgiven for expecting the good times to keep rolling.

In a sense they have. Omeruo laughs when he is informed that, this week, he became Chelsea’s longest-serving current player. But all of that time, apart from a brief spell in 2013 when José Mourinho wanted a closer look at the centre‑back only for shoulder surgery to intervene, has been spent on loan.

It is a familiar tale but Omeruo knows enough is enough and hopes another continental title will help him find security at last. The story about Varane is volunteered in response to a quite unrelated question; he clearly feels it is time to hurry things up.

“I think now’s the time for me to leave, to find a place, to be my own man,” he says. “I’m married with a baby now, so I need stability. Chelsea have done amazingly for me, and for my family as well, but it’s the time when I need to reach my potential and get where I think I deserve to be.”

There’s a lot of truth in African proverbs, but there is one African saying that I disagree with. It’s the proverb that says “it takes a village to raise a child”.

That might have been true 100 years ago, but in the modern world it takes more than a village; it takes a whole country.

A village can still provide many of a child’s needs of course, but it’s a caring, well-organised and ambitious country that provides a vital ingredient of a modern childhood – a good, properly-resourced education.

A good primary school education underpins all the vocational and technical skills acquired in technical colleges, polytechnics and universities. It’s not just vital to the child, it’s critical to the development of a country’s economy.

Yet, in Nigeria today, the number of public primary schools and teachers available for basic education are both woefully inadequate. This is exacerbated by the poor facilities at many primary schools.

British MP Kate Osamor has criticised the government of President Muhammadu Buhari for not acting “earnestly” against the “scourge of violence” in Nigeria. Osamor, who was born in North London to Nigerian parents, was speaking during a House of Commons debate on “forced displacement in Africa”.

The debate was based on the 10th report of the House of Commons’ International Development Committee, Forced displacement in Africa: Anchors not walls, and the UK government response.

Nigerian authorities appear to be on a renewed drive to muzzle free speech.

In early June, the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) suspended the broadcast licenses of two subsidiaries of Daar Communications, the African Independent Television (AIT) and Raypower Radio station, only giving broad and vague reasons. Barely a week later, the Department of State Security Services (DSS) declared a crackdown on social media users for posting materials described as threatening to the country’s peace and stability.

The NBC, citing its powers under the National Broadcast Commission Act, sanctioned the stations for airing “inflammatory, divisive, inciting broadcasts, and media propaganda against the government.” AIT was cited for broadcasting “uncensored and unedited social media content.” The DSS subsequently arrested an unknown number of unnamed social media users for allegedly threatening peace and security by posting inciting statements. The DSS has been previously implicated in human rights violations including arbitrary arrests, detention without trial, and torture.

Brain drain is a major challenge facing the Nigerian health system, leading to a dramatic reduction in the number of doctors in the country. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Nigeria is one of the three leading African sources of foreign-born physicians.

Doctors leave for a variety of reasons depending on where they are in their careers. For example, many leave immediately after graduation. They usually leave for one or two reasons. Firstly, to pursue international residency training. Most in this category usually don’t return to the country. They prefer to work where their newly acquired skills can be put to better use. The second reason is if they fail to find a job or space for residency training. Most in this category also never return home to practice.

Make no mistake about it, this was no fluke win. Minnows Madagascar beat Nigeria fair and square in the last match of Group B in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

Nigerians may want to convince themselves that, with six points in the bag from 1-0 wins in the two games before, the Super Eagles were already through to the next round and took their eyes off the ball. The players also had the perennial arguments with the Nigerian Football Federation over unpaid allowances and bonuses. But those excuses shouldn’t wash against the tiny Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, who were making their first ever appearance at the tournament.

Top Nigerian Muslim cleric Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, who has been imprisoned for four years now, is said to have been poisoned in prison, according to doctors who found high levels of toxic substance in his blood.

Members of Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) announced that their cleric was poisoned, citing results of an investigation by the movement’s Academic Forum.

Nigeria’s Otigba Computer Village is arguably the biggest information, communications technology (ICT) market in Africa. It started off as a one-man business on a street called “Otigba” in Ikeja, the capital of Lagos State. Within a short time it grew to a few thousand businesses occupying a vast area in the state. It represents an ICT solution centre for Nigeria as well as West Africa.

Three years ago Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics estimated that the informal sector had accounted for as much as 41% of the country’s economy in 2015. The informal sector in Nigeria continues to grow for numerous reasons.

Nigeria seemed more balanced and played better this time around than last Saturday, with skipper Mikel Obi, who was disappointing against Burundi, relegated to the bench and Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi moved from the flanks to a more central role, supporting striker Odion Ighalo, who scored the winner in the first game. Ahmed Musa, also a sub in the last match, and Moses Simon started to the left and right of Ighalo.

With the hardworking duo of Oghenekaro Etebo and Wilfred Ndidi at the centre of the park, there was a more solid feel to Nigeria to nullify the threat from Guinea’s star player from Liverpool, Naby Keita, but little fluency in the first half. Creative responsibility fell mostly on Iwobi but he was out of sorts today.

Tanzania have to be the biggest underdog at the Africa Cup of Nations. Now, coached by a former Nigerian star, the East African team is set to face Kenya in a highly anticipated battle between neighbours.

It had long become clear in Tanzania coach Emmanuel Amunike’s mind that his team were on their way to losing their opening match at the Africa Cup of Nations. So after the referee blew the final whistle on Tanzania’s 2-0 defeat to Senegal on Sunday, he casually went over to his opposite number, Aliou Cisse, to congratulate him.

“My boys should learn from this game, and gain experience. That’s what they lack the most,” the 48-year-old Amunike said shortly afterwards.

Dear Chief Tinubu,

The backpage of your The Nation of Tuesday 12 March where one of your Rottweilers under the FORGED name “Segun Ibirogba” wrote “Odumakin’s anxiety over vanishing feeding-bottles” has un-paused the button on this serial.

I have always wondered why these intellectual almajiris around you always attack me under fake names.It is either they are afraid of me or they don’t believe in you to risk their names doing the dirty job for you .Well,we know many of them hold worst views about you than us but for the free money they have been accustomed to from a Robbin Hood.

The piece referenced was a rehash of same old silly lies and freshly minted ones.In keeping faith with my resolve that for every dart of lie you guys throw in my direction ,I will return 10 bombs of truth I make this response.And for every line I write,I can say like Fela Anikulapo-Kuti “Na true I wan talk again o,if I dey lie o,make Edumare punish me o”.

Since you guys made a failed attempt to impugn my integrity ,I have chosen to use this edition to place your life side-by-side mine on the scale of integrity so we can know if your hen can point at the boil in a hawk’s eye.I intend to show that were it not that Nigeria has become Ceaser’s palace where the leper holds the veil,nobody in your circle should move near that subject.

I am Yinka Odumakin and nobody can say he had known me under any identity in my life .I have led a straight life unlike you that people know under different identities depending on where they met you in your about 80 years on earth .Yes,80!

Those of us who are knowledgeable about you cant buy your 66 claim for so many reasons .The current governor of Osun is the son of your immediate senior sister from Iragbiji and he is 63 while you are claiming 66. Your first wife died in Lagos recently unannounced at 74 .

When the son he had for you died many moths earlier his age had to be doctored to fit into the lie that you live. And there is a photograph of yours at the palace of Soun Ogbomoso in 1974 when the current monarch was installed with a bottle of beer and packet of cigarette in your front. You mean you were 20 when you were drinking and smoking in a palace ?

There is no school I have attended in my life that my classmates would not come out in droves to say “yeah, we were there together!”. From St Augustine Primary School, Ondo to CAC Grammar School, Edunabon and Oduduwa College Ile -Ife down to Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile -Ife and University of Ghana.

At your end St John Primary School Aroloya you claimed may be created by your new governor in Lagos. The old boys of Government College Ibadan were planning a reception for you when someone asked which set you belonged to .There has been no answer to that till date and the reception was cancelled. The tales by moonlight on Chigago State University and University of Chiicago are all over the place.

My parents are alive in Osun and by God’s grace I will give them a befitting burial. I will not have to send emissaries to bury them since I have not abandoned “moomi” (that’s how we Oyo people in Osun call mummy) to be calling another woman “maami” in Lagos to fit a life of lie and greed. No Mama HID Awolowo would have told me that she knew all the children of “maami ” and that I was not one of them.

My parents are not rich but I am proud of them because it is from their black pot that my white palp has come out. I say proudly among my University mates today that they could not afford more than N60 per month for me throughout my University days .The story of grass to grace is a proud thing among the Yoruba. MKO Abiola was proud of the story that he ate egg for the first time in his life in the home of Simbiat Abiola’s parents.

With the modest means of my parents, they instilled so much values in me that there is no crime attached to my name in all my years on earth. Forging traveling passports had never appealed to me. Neither has my name been linked to a narcotic ring leading to inquiry and forfeiture of assets. All my life, my hands have provided for me. And they have provided for you too.

I recall when you returned from exile in 1998 and running for governor. You were not “Ezeego” then. You had only the Sunday Adigun house and all the four cars you used then belonged to Mr Ganiyu Solomon. There were a lot of printings being done for you by your friends at The News. I saw the price you were being offered and I told you my press could do it at 40%. I delivered and saved you 60%. I recall Mr Babafemi Ojodu complained openly that they could not do the price I offered you !

That should tell you and your attack dogs that I have always separated the cause I believe in from what I would eat unlike you who always mix the two. You pose as a June 12 hero today but Kola Abiola is alive to tell the story of what happened to MKO’s money as Bashorun is no longer alive. In 20 years, there is hardly any boundary between Lagos treasury and your private pockets. Your “O to ge” moment is coming some day and all the dirty deals will be out.

Like a rapist, you can tell your victims to shout “O to pe” for as long as stolen funds and drug money rule Lagos politics.

I have noticed that because you and your followers have no abiding principle and you are driven by only lust for money, you assume it is so for everybody. Your being glued to the lowest of all spirits (money) makes it difficult for you to make the right judgement about people thinking they are all about money. Was it that you didn’t have money when I told you in December 2006 that it was over between us politically? Have I ever looked in your direction ever? There are men who may not be able to give N10,000 to a cause but if they say they want to see me at 8AM I would be there at 7. Can you summon me with all your bullion vans?

I recall how you said to me in 2006 about Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi and I quote you “Adiye ni Tokunbo, yin agbado fun a pada” (Tokunbo is a fowl, throw corns and it is U-turn). Has he not turned his back at you today? You don’t have “corns ” again? This was the man who was your fall guy when you made all the forgeries in 1999. He was among the team that went to bury your biological mother in Iragbiji when you could not show your face, has his exit not shown you there are men who place value on principle than money?

I have lived my political life on the basis of the fact that an adversary today can be an ally tomorrow and vice versa. I am not beholden to any person outside the core beliefs we share. One of the men I had an open disagreement with was President Obasanjo and when we reconciled it was an open thing. That differentiates me from you who walk both sides of the streets simultaneously. You were with NADECO and also in bed with Abacha through whom you forged friendship with the Chagourys who are your business partners till date.

The political buffoons around you would hold you out as an anti-third term person today but you know what happened between us on May 2, 2006. We had a meeting at Airport Hotel in Lagos where you were dictating the communique against third term unknown to participants you were at a meeting till wee hours of that morning to work third term in another way.

I was reading the communique to the press when you called me. I gave the phone to the late Rev Tunji Adebiyi but you told him you wanted to speak with me. We didn’t get to talk till late in the night. I had with me in the car as you spoke with me from VGC to Ikeja then President of Egbe Omo Yoruba in North America, Mr Odusanya. Let me quote you verbatim :

“I hope you have not released that communique. We need to manage this third term carefully. Obasanjo is a blind cat. If he causes problem now and they kill one Yoruba graduate in Kano and we kill 200 people selling onions in mile 12 it is not equal. I am therefore proposing that we have a win-win situation. Instead of outright third term we can have the confab recommendation of one six-year tenure starting with the incumbent having 2 extra years and so with we the governors. We can use the two years to empower people like you and handover to one of you. I have asked General Alani Akinrinade to come and I am going to meet Prof Soyinka to discuss it. I want you to think about it”

I told you as a matter of fact that the proposition was unreasonable and there was nothing for me to think about as I would prefer outright third term where we would have elections to automatic two years extension. But my eyes were opened to how unreliable you are that night. Here was a man dictating communique against third term in the morning having this conversation with me at night.

I made up my mind on you that night. The conversation I had with you minutes after Funso Williams was killed and the way you handled your your succession made me to severe political links with you within six months .

…More to come.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157460709647841&id=595332840

Striker Odion Ighalo came off the bench after 74 minutes and scored with his second touch to give Nigeria an opening Group B win against Burundi at the Africa Cup of Nations in Alexandria, Egypt.

The Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr surprisingly left China-based Ighalo, the former Watford hitman on the bench for the untested beanpole striker Paul Onuachu, from FC Midtjylland in Denmark. Ighalo wasted his first touch, but made no mistake three minutes later when he latched on to a back-heeled assist from Torino left-back Ola Aina to calmly bend the ball into the far corner.

Nigeria made a big impact in the 1990s, but have failed to build on their golden era. Ahead of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, Jay-Jay Okocha spoke to German broadcaster DW about his glory days and the current Super Eagles team.

DW: Nigeria was labelled the ‘Dream Team’ after winning gold at the summer olympics in Atlanta in 1996. What changed after that achievement?

Ja-Jay Okocha: Nobody was expecting us to do very well because we didn’t have the best preparation but as individuals we stuck together and said let’s just try and see how far we can go. Lucky for us we won it and since then we are like heroes in Nigeria. Some of us got stadiums named after us. We were (treated) like Presidents you know. We got the highest reception you could ever think of. After that there was pressure was on the next generation to then repeat that achievement, but they failed.

Samson Akinola, activist, human rights lawyer and founder of advocacy group Agents of Change (AOC), seems to be following in the footsteps of the late and legendary Nigerian lawyer and activist, Gani Fawehinmi aka “Senior Advocate for the Masses”.

Akinola rose to prominence after a video he made flaying the incompetence of officials at the Nigeria High Commission in London, following an incident earlier this week when a Nigerian smashed up five diplomatic cars parked in front of the High Commission building, allegedly because his passport was not ready when he came to pick it up. Both videos of the damage and Akinola’s response went viral over social media.

Akinola, while not condoning the criminal damage of the vehicles, pledged to support the alleged perpetrator’s defence in court on the grounds of provocation by the Nigeria High Commission.

The activist was a guest on a programme entirely dedicated to the incident on the London channel BEN TV this evening. He said he had been called by 50 Nigerians saying they are willing to join him in court with their own experiences about chronic incompetence by High Commission officials. Akinola also claimed that, before this particular case, about three Nigerians had told him they wanted to vandalise cars at the embassy. He had to appeal to them to stop.

Ebelechukwu Obiano, the very combative wife of Anambra State governor Willie Obiano, has set her sights at succeeding her husband at the expiry of his second term in 2021.

Mrs Obiano, who loves her Igbo title “Osodieme” (loosely translated as “one that acts with her husband”), has been described by a handful of sources close to Government House in Awka as not just the power behind the throne but the person sitting tight on the throne.

Toronto Raptors team president Masai Ujiri hailed his team’s NBA title triumph as ‘a championship for the world’.

The Raptors sealed a 4-2 series victory with a dramatic 114-110 win over the Golden State in Game 6 at Oracle Arena, the third time they have beaten the Warriors on their own floor in the season-ending showpiece.

Speaking to Sky Sports NBA in the Raptors locker room in the aftermath of their title win, Ujiri, who was born in England and raised in Nigeria, declared: “This means the whole world. I can’t believe it, it’s a championship. This is a championship for the whole world.”

Gary K Busch, a professor of political science, political intelligence consultant to several governments, Africa expert and journalist, has some explosive things to say about the decision by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to declare June 12 as “Democracy Day” in Nigeria in commemoration of the aborted election as president of businessman Moshood Abiola in 1993.

Jmk9292:
Did she get it wrong?

Rory Stewart, one of the 10 candidates battling to replace Theresa May as the Leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister of the UK, who formally launched his bid for the leadership of the party this evening, also spoke in the afternoon in his capacity as the UK’s international development secretary (minister) during a debate in the House of Commons on “sustainable development goals”.

A presidential panel on the reform of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Force has recommended the establishment of state and local government police to confront the growing insecurity crises in the country.

But would decentralisation solve the chronic problems of the police force that Nigerians have become ever so familiar with? For starters, Nigerian governments have generally ignored recommendations on police reform by several panels in the past. So the Nigerians tasking themselves on social media on the prospects of the police force coming under the control of state governments, are wasting precious time on something very unlikely to happen.

However the reality is that locally-run police forces in Nigeria only sound like a good idea on paper. If you hand over control of the police to the states or even cities without dealing with the fundamental issues about the force, you wouldn’t solve any problem, but recreate it at other levels. Localisation of power or services has advantages but they also create problems. For example, devolving some power to states and local government areas made sense in theory, but in practice it created expensive layers of bureaucracy and corrupt fiefdoms.