₦airaland Forum

Nigeria survive Mali rally to take last ticket on offer in Belgrade

13/02/2022

BELGRADE (Serbia) - Nigeria will fly the flag for Africa at the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022 in Sydney after they scooped up the last available ticket on offer in Belgrade.

Following on from the euphoria of their historic win against France, they repeated that feeling of joy, but also mixed with a palpable sense of relief by completing a 73-69 victory against Continental rivals Mali.

Coasting with a 21-point lead, Nigeria almost self-destructed as Mali turned up the defensive pressure, dragging it back to a one-shot game inside the last minute. However, Nigeria managed to cling on and seal back-to-back appearances at the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup.

"I think fatigue set in and only having one point guard made it tough against a team in survival mode," reflected Nigeria head coach, Otis Hughley Jr. after the final buzzer had sounded.

"But seriously, hats off to Mali and their undying effort. Credit to their coach who did such an amazing job and Mali almost flipped the script."

"But our girls took the punch and we're off to Sydney - we're just happy about that," he added.


Promise delivered

Promise Amukamara had 10 points and 8 assists and the playmaker added: "This tournament was very special for us. We battled through a lot of adversity. I had to step up and take on the point guard and leader role. I am not very vocal, so that was a challenge for me."

"I think this tournament was the best one for us, because we had to put absolutely everything together with no training camp or preparation. We really believed in ourselves."

She continued: "Now we just have to get back healthy and the sky is the limit. We have already shocked a lot of the world. We won't be just turning up (in Sydney), we will have a different mindset and will be reaching for the Quarter-Finals."

D'Tigress join host nation Australia, Serbia, France, China, and Korea in advancing to Sydney via the Serbian capital, while Mali reflect on an opportunity lost to make history and reach the main event for the first time.

FIBA

LAGOS POLICE RECOVER AK- 47, PUMP ACTION GUNS

Officers of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Lagos State Police Command have recovered an AK – 47 and a pump action gun loaded with 8 rounds of live ammunition in Ajah area of the State.

The guns were recovered at about 1345hrs. yesterday with a hood and plier inside a black sack. The team of officers on a special assignment in the area had received intelligence about the suspicious substances before detouring to check it out.

The CP has, however, directed that a discreet investigation should be carried out by the Command's Special Squad with a view to arresting the suspected robbers who could have used the weapons to cause serious harm to innocent people in the State.

The Commssioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi commended the RRS Commander and his men for the recovery and the strategic informant who provided the information leading to the recovery.

naptu2:
There is no civilian airport in Makurdi, only an air force base, but civilian planes are allowed to land at the base. That's why issues like this often occur. People might not remember that this is not the first time that there have been issues with the base. There are always issues because the military have got to make their own security arrangements/decisions considering the situation of things in the country.

There was a time (in 2018) when the Air Force had to close the base for maintenance. Governor Ortom alleged that the Federal Airport Authority was closing the base in order to cage him. He claimed that they wanted to force him to use the roads in order to expose him to bandits. The Air Force replied that the base is a military airport and FAAN has no authority over it.


Once again, in 2018, a group of Middle Belt, South-South and South East leaders, including Edwin Clark and John Nia Nwodo, wanted to fly into Makurdi, but their plane was denied permission to land. This was while the base was still closed for maintenance. The Air Force said that the airport was still undergoing maintenance and besides, the Benue State Government did not inform it of the flight ahead of time. It said that special measures would have been put in place to receive the aircraft if they had been informed ahead of time.


Sometime before the 2019 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was scheduled to land at the airport for one of his campaigns, but his plane was not allowed to land. The Air Force said that it had closed the base to all non-military flights because it was being used for counter insurgency operations.


Ahead of the 2015 election, General Muhammadu Buhari's plane was also denied permission to land at the base. The former governor of the state, George Akume, blamed President Goodluck Jonathan for the refusal to allow the plane land. However, when Akume was governor (between 1999-2007) General Buhari's plane had been prevented from landing in Makurdi during the 2003 and 2007 election campaigns and Mr Akume had boasted about the incidents.


Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso's plane was also denied permission to land at Makurdi Airport when he was still an APC presidential aspirant.

naptu2:
There is no civilian airport in Makurdi, only an air force base, but civilian planes are allowed to land at the base. That's why issues like this often occur. People might not remember that this is not the first time that there have been issues with the base. There are always issues because the military have got to make their own security arrangements/decisions considering the situation of things in the country.

There was a time (in 2018) when the Air Force had to close the base for maintenance. Governor Ortom alleged that the Federal Airport Authority was closing the base in order to cage him. He claimed that they wanted to force him to use the roads in order to expose him to bandits. The Air Force replied that the base is a military airport and FAAN has no authority over it.


Once again, in 2018, a group of Middle Belt, South-South and South East leaders, including Edwin Clark and John Nia Nwodo, wanted to fly into Makurdi, but their plane was denied permission to land. This was while the base was still closed for maintenance. The Air Force said that the airport was still undergoing maintenance and besides, the Benue State Government did not inform it of the flight ahead of time. It said that special measures would have been put in place to receive the aircraft if they had been informed ahead of time.


Sometime before the 2019 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was scheduled to land at the airport for one of his campaigns, but his plane was not allowed to land. The Air Force said that it had closed the base to all non-military flights because it was being used for counter insurgency operations.


Ahead of the 2015 election, General Muhammadu Buhari's plane was also denied permission to land at the base. The former governor of the state, George Akume, blamed President Goodluck Jonathan for the refusal to allow the plane land. However, when Akume was governor (between 1999-2007) General Buhari's plane had been prevented from landing in Makurdi during the 2003 and 2007 election campaigns and Mr Akume had boasted about the incidents.


Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso's plane was also denied permission to land at Makurdi Airport when he was still an APC presidential aspirant.

Osinbajo: "Excellency"

Ortom: "Good morning sir. Welcome sir".

Ortom said: "Sorry for. . .when I went back, the press asked me, so I addressed them, so. . ."