This will be the third time in the history of Africa Cup of Nations championship that the Super Eagles of Nigeria will be facing the Bafana Bafana of South Africa. Interestingly, the Super Eagles have won the two previous encounters at AFCON 2000 and 2004.
The first time both teams met at the continental showpiece was at the AFCON 2000 co-hosted by Nigeria and Ghana. It was at the Semi-finals with Nigeria coming out victorious at 2-0.
Again, both teams were pitched together in the same group alongside Morocco and Benin Republic.
Nigeria defeated South Africa 4-0 to qualify from the group alongside Morocco, with both South Africa and Benin Republic crashing out.
The Super Eagles and Bafana Bafana have met 13 times with South Africa winning twice.
Their first victory against Nigeria was at the Nelson Mandela Cup International friendly match at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Johannesburg. The match ended 2-1.
The first and only competitive victory of South Africa against Nigeria was two years ago at the Uyo International Stadium in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria, during the qualifiers for the ongoing 2019 AFCON tournament.
Against all odds, the Bafana Bafana lads humbled Nigeria 2-0 to register a famous victory against their West African foe.
Their first competitive triumph against Nigeria should have come during the 2015 AFCON qualifiers at the same Uyo International Stadium, but the South African Coach, Shakes Mashaba, failed to write his name in the history book, as his team succumbed to a 2-0 lead, with match ending 2-2.
Though, the result saw Nigeria’s absence at the AFCON 2015 tournament, and to also defend the title it won two years ago in 2013.
On July 10th, 2019, at the Cairo International Stadium, Egypt, both teams will rekindle their rivalry, as Nigeria will want to keep the momentum to continue its dominance against the Southern African country.
No doubt, the odds favour Nigeria, but the resilience and extraordinary performance of the Bafana Bafana lads against host, Egypt, is of concern to numerous fans, soccer enthusisats, analysts and bookmakers, as to predict the outcome of the encounter.
The performance of the Super Eagles against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon is another factor that will make the battle between both nations fierce.
Since AFCON 2000, Nigeria has been consistent in getting to the semi finals of the African showpiece. Though, at the 2008 AFCON tournament, Nigeria was booted out in the quarter final by host, Ghana, since then it has never failed in reaching the last four.
Super Eagles failed to qualify for AFCON 2015 and 2017, but coach Gernot Rohr is optimistic of going into the finals of the competition.
He has however promised to use his best legs against the South Africans.
South Africa has won the AFCON tournament once when it hosted it in 1996.
Nigeria failed to participate at the competition, having won the tournament two years earlier in Tunisia, but failed to defend it’s title due to political uprising in Nigeria then under the tyrannical regime of military rule led by Late General Sani Abacha.
Both teams will set the Cairo International Stadium in Egypt agog tomorrow when the square up against each other in fierce contest.
Former Minister for Education, Obiageli Ezekwesili has questioned President Muhammadu Buhari’s lackadaisical approach towards the challenges facing the nation.
Ezekwesili condemned the attitude and body language of the President towards the many security and economic challenges facing the country.
She says the President’s attitude signifies that he has no positive plan for the country during the electioneering campaign, but was only bent on remaining in power.
The former Presidential Candidate said that it was more than obvious that ‘Becoming President’ was the one and only objective of President Buhari.
“Or what explains the fact that he seldom shows any sense of urgency in tackling the numerous governance challenges that keep multiplying? Bear the title, @NGRPresident for nothing?” Ezekwesili insisted.
The former education minister added: “Do we, at all, have a President in office these days? This is a legitimate question that should be answered by @AsoRock. How can a Government be so oblivious of the temperature of the country it is supposedly ‘governing’?
“Let’s say @AsoRock says we do have a President, can they please let him know that our Constitution has no provision for Imperial Presidency? He is not a king.
“This country is neither being led nor governed right now. @AsoRock, let this be told whom this message belongs.”
Ezekwesili, a former Presidential aspirant, who voted for the President in 2015, has become a regular critic of the President
The ongoing Buhari vs Atiku case at the Federal Court of Appeal in Abuja has pulled up several legal punches that promises a Coca-cola-pop-corn entertainment for Nigerians despite the seriousness of the case on issue.
The substantive suit, which started after weeks of legal fireworks on preliminary objections, took a bizarre turn when President Buhari, through his lawyer, Wale Olanipekun, objected to the admission in evidence of form CF001. This was the form containing his personal data he submitted to the Independent national Electoral Commission, INEC, in the wake of the 2019 presidential election. Olanipekun, however, said his reasons will be revealed at a latter date.
Also, the PDP chairman from Buhari’s home town, Katsina, Salisu Majigiri, had submitted that Atiku won the election in Katina but that INEC declared Buhari winner. Under cross examination, Majigiri said APC polled 872,000 while PDP scored 905,000. This is in contrast to the figures finally announced by INEC.
INEC has said that that PDP polled 160,203 votes while the APC polled 1,505,633.
“APC scored 872,000 and PDP scored, 905,000. These are our own results, we collated in our state not the ones from the server,” he said.
Atiku has tendered INEC final announced results, Newspaper reports of the statements by INEC Chairman, total number of voters, total number of collected Permanent Voter’s card, PVC. All these were admitted in evidence.
Ijeoma Obi, an IT expert in the employ of INEC, insisted she transmitted the results from the polling units to the INEC server.
INEC has claimed that the server was nonexistent.
Another withess, Adejuyitan Olalekan, also asaid that he transmitted election results to INEC server. “I personally transmitted election results to INEC server through the code provided by INEC. There was no instruction from INEC to us to allow election manually in case the card reader refuses to function,” he said.
Other witnesses also claimed to have transmitted the results to INEC server.
Fidelity Private Banking, FPB has been adjudged the ‘Best Digital Networking Bank For Entrepreneurs, Africa 2019’ at 2019 PWM Wealth Tech Awards held in London, United Kingdom (UK) recently.
FPB is a specialised division of Fidelity Bank Plc.
The award was Organised by Professional Wealth Management, PWM, an industry magazine owned by the Financial Times, the awards celebrate excellence in wealth management technology.
Speaking after the award ceremony in London, Fidelity Bank Chief Executive Officer, Nnamdi Okonkwo said that the award is in recognition of excellence, achieved through commitment to the ideals of the new generation bank
For eight years Owelle Rochas Okorocha ruled Imo state under the slogan ‘Imo Rescue Mission,’ because as he once said, his predecessors left the state in a very bad shape.
So no sooner he was sworn-in than he embarked on massive road construction across the state.
Within this period also, the Iberiberism exponent also allocated billions of naira for construction of government buildings, which in his estimation will add value to the state.
But as he sat in the Senate chamber last week, the former governor must have been disappointed that after spending so much to turn the state around, there’s little to show for his efforts.
Abandoned Tunnel
This is coming amidst outpour of condemnation by people in and outside the state, that the former helmsman embarked on so many projects, which when probed thoroughly cannot be said to benefit the state, rather they were meant to satisfy his ego.
This assertion can be viewed from the duplication of many projects executed by his predecessors, his critics say.
For example, ex-Governor Okorocha had built a new government house in spite of the fact that his predecessor, Ikedi Ohakim built one.
The one left by Governor Ohakim was left to rot away on the excuse that the state deserved a better government house and offices.
“For many years the Agodi government house built by the defunct Western Government was used by successive administrations in the state.
In any case, Imo state is not richer than Oyo state, so it baffles me that Governor Okorocha decided to spend billions of tax-payers money on bogus projects that now litter the state like failed monuments.
But for many indigenes of the state, the ex-helmsman will be remembered for one thing: turning the state into a huge construction site as soon as he came to office.
Failed portion of the Umuchima Bridge
On his departure from office on May 29, ex-Governor Okorocha boasted that there is “no more work” for his successor to do” because he has done all that’s needed to be done in terms of bringing development to the state for the period he was the chief executive officer.
He also stated that he left over N42 billion in various government owned accounts, to serve as take off for the new administration.
According to him, N8.1 billion has been set aside for payment of salaries and for capital projects, while N5.2 billion has been earmarked for payment of pension arrears.
He also said N7.6 billion had been set aside for renovation of schools across the state and N21.6 billion for the construction of rural roads.
“My government has kept aside a total of N42.5b for the in-coming government, and for that reason, I will set up a sub-committee to make sure that the projects they are attached to, come to fruition even when I am out of office because government is a continuum,” Okorocha said, charging Governor Ihedioha to shun corruption and “serve our dear state with all your might just as I have.”
Governor Ihedioha has denied these claims as the lie of the devil.
But the incumbent has not denied claims that his predecessor embarked on so many projects in the last eight years.
Meanwhile, government sources informed the magazine last week that proper need assessment was not conducted to ascertain their benefits to the people of the state.
Engineer at Work on the Failed Flyover
“How much these projects have impacted on the people of the state, considering that the administration received more allocations from the federal government than its predecessors, and what it has to show for it are bogus road projects and tunnels that our people don’t even need at this times,” a senior civil servant who does not want his name mentioned told the magazine last week in Owerri.
No one is as worried as Governor Ihedioha.
The state’s helmsman, told the magazine last week in Owerri, the state’s capital, that his successor left the state worse than he met it.
The governor is even more worried over the level of indebtedness the former helmsman considering that “over N30 billion’ of judgment debt is hanging on the state.
The debt overhang is enough to cripple the state, but “I have been appealing to” those that got the judgments to allow for out of court settlement because the state cannot afford to pay, Ihedioha said.
Some officials from the state’s Ministry of Justice told the magazine that most of the judgments were secured by contractors and others who were shortchanged by the past administration.
Ihedioha: i will recover all looted properties.
“In some instances, swathes of lands were forcefully taken from owners under the guise of using them for public good, but as it turned out, those lands were acquired for family members and cronies.
In other instances, contractors were commissioned to execute projects, along the line the government terminated the contracts and refused to pay for the works already done.
The aggrieved parties took government to court. This is responsible for the billions of naira of judgment debt hanging dangerously on the state,” a ministry of Justice official told the magazine last Friday.
The official added that families of the former governor are the immediate beneficiaries of his government’s deceptive policies.
He explained that massive looting was carried out to “satisfy close family members and cronies of government.”
He may be right.
Among the multi-billion naira properties believed to have been acquired by the ex-governor and his family, during his eight year tenure, are the Royal Spring Hotels and Apartments, Eastern Palm University, Rochas Foundation College and many other choice properties, in Owerri, the state’s capital and across the state.
An estate valuer told the magazine that if the properties are sold the proceeds will be enough to execute many important projects that will benefit the masses.
“The former governor seems to have big appetite for acquiring properties. It would have been better if the state’s resources were not used to acquire the choice properties.
Before he became governor, he was almost down financially, and had sold most of his properties to contest the election.
But as soon as he became governor he started buying back the properties he once sold and even acquired more.
In most cases the properties are built on public and individual land forcefully taken by Governor Okorocha,” one businessman said.
Apart from his immediate families, his cronies also benefitted from the alleged unprecedented massive looting, the state experienced under Okorocha’s watch, close watchers of the state’s politics say.
“The Diaspora Village along Okigwe Road was built on a massive government owned land by a businessman very close to the governor and there are many others yet to be discovered ,” a civil servant in the ministry of land, said last week.
He said the government should immediately take inventory of these properties in order to find out whether they were legitimately acquired by owners, apart from probing the finances of the state under the former administration.
By the time Ihedioha beamed a searchlight on his predecessor, massive corruption would be unraveled from multi-billion naira roads contracts and other public properties executed by the immediate past administration, critic say.
Some of these projects have now been abandoned by contractors handling them while those that have been completed are in state of total disrepair, the magazine’s investigations indicate.
This is despite the ex-governor’s boast that he left a near utopian state for his successor.
But any recent visitor to the state will disagree with the ex-governor.
The Umuchima Town Bridge in Ideato South Local Government which has almost caved in on both sides of the expressway comes to reckoning, his critics told the magazine.
The former governor hails from this local government where he has now built a world class university.
The road leading to Imo State University Teaching Hospital, Owerri-Ibeiri, Orlu Local government, now waterlogged, cutting off users, others say are one of the imprint left by the former strongman.
The Orlu Owerri Road link bridge is also one of the badly executed projects by the former governor.
Not left out is the Orji Flyover that has been marked out for reconstruction.
Months after the completion of the flyover, it has been abandoned by motorists who believed that using the multi-billion naira bridge pose a huge risk to them.
Last week, the President Nigerian Society of Engineers, Engr. Adekunle Mokuolu, told the magazine that the bridge is one of the projects under investigations.
“The government invited us to conduct integrity tests on some projects executed by the previous administration,” he said adding that with the materials used, many of the projects cannot stand the test of time.
Engineers are currently working on the flyover to ascertain whether it is suitable for public use, due to cracks that are now visible all over the less than one kilometer flyover.
“This is the first time I will come across bridges and roads constructed without iron rods.
Rather, the contractors used blocks and gravels, leaving out the most important materials in road construction,” said one of the investigating engineers, employed by the current administration.
Meanwhile, Governor Ihedioha has disclosed that he has no intention of witch-hunting his predecessor, in spite of massive pressure on his government to do so, all he’s interested in, the governor said, is for ex-Governor Okorocha to return all he illegally took from the state.
Sam Onwuemeodo, media aide to the former governor failed to respond to the allegations as calls made to his mobile phone number were not answered.
Adedoyin Rhodes Vivour, the wife of a Supreme Court Judge, Justice Rhodes Vivour, is among the newly selected silk lawyers now to be adressed as Senior Advocates Of Nigeria, SAN. The husband headed the panel that ruled that Gboyega Oyetola is the duly elected governor of Osun state.
The court had ruled five to two that the incumbent governor won the election, basing their ruling on technicalities and avoiding the main issue.
Adedoyin’s name was number one on the list.
Also on the list is a 34 year old Graduate of the University of Ilorin, who surprisingly must have scaled through the rigorous selection process to emerge the youngest silk ever in the history of Nigerian judiciary.
Also to be part of the investiture later in the year is fiery lawyer, Ebun-Olu Samuel Adegboruwa.
The land of the Pharaohs, Egypt, has become a Mecca of sorts for Nigerian Politicians, most especially members of the newly inaugurated House of Representatives.
For some days now, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State and some members of the House of Representatives have been in Egypt to cheer the Super Eagles to victory at the on-going 2019 African Cup of Nations championship in Egypt.
This was vivid when the Super Eagles triumphed over their Central African neighbor, Cameroon, to book a place in the last Eight of the competition.
In other to seek the good face of the Speaker, and to get juicy committee appointments, members of the House of Representatives have been lobbying the Speaker.
Information made available to the magazine shows that many of the members at Egypt have no business there, as the Speaker and only a few were selected to go to Egypt to rally support for the national team to triumph and win its fourth AFCON title.
Sources informed the magazine that several members of the All Progressives Party, APC, in the House have occupied Hotels in Alexandria, Suez and Cairo, and have been lobbying the Speaker.
With the progression of the Super Eagles in the competition, the Speaker will make Egypt his abode till the Team either wins the competition, or get booted out.
Two goals in a space of three minutes gave the Super Eagles a 3-2 victory over their arch-rivals, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in their Round of 16 encounter at the on-going 2019 African Cup of Nations championship in Egypt.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria drew the first blood in the 17th minute with a goal mouth scramble goal that saw Odion Jude Ighalo registering his second goal in the competition, to put the West African giants in the lead.
Kenneth Omeruo and William Troost Ekong who marshalled the Eagles defence, couldn’t absorb the pressure coming from the Cameroonians, succumbed to the attacking force of the Cameroonians spearheaded by Chupo-moting.
Two quick goals from David Bahoken and Clinton Njie in the 41st and 43rd saw the Lions taking a 2-1 lead into the break.
The Super Eagles never rested on their oars, but went on to pile more pressure on their opponents which later paid off after the introduction of Villarreal Football Club of Spain youngster, Samuel Chukwueze, who combined well with the attackers to get Nigeria the equaliser.
Ighalo and Alex Iwobi scored the second and third goals to defeat the 2017 AFCON Champions, thus, eliminating them from the competition.
In the other Round of 16 encounter of the day, host, Pharaohs of Egypt were defeated by the Bafana Bafana of South Africa 1-0, courtesy of Peter Lorch strike in the 84th minutes of the match.
With this victory, the former apartheid nation will face the Super Eagles in the second quarter final match on Wednesday, 10th July, 2019.
Nigeria and South Africa will rekindle their rivalry, having been grouped alongside during the AFCON qualifiers, with Nigeria topping the group, though, the Super Eagles lost to the Start Baxter South African side 2-0 at the Uyo International Stadium, Akwa Ibom, Nigeria, on the first day of the qualifiers, seeing South Africa register first competitive victory over Nigeria.
The South Africans will be looking forward to a repeat of that when both teams clash at the Cairo International Stadium to see who books the Semi-Final ticket at the competition.
The last time Nigeria met South Africa at the AFCON tournament was in 2014 in Tunisia. Nigeria defeated South Africa 4-0 with goals from Joseph Yobo, Austin Okocha and a brace from Peter Osaze Odemwengie.
Both teams also met at the Semi-Final of the 2000 AFCON tournament co-hosted by Nigeria and Ghana. Again, Nigeria defeated South Africa 2-0 with both goals scored by Tijani Babangida.
Coach Gernot Rohr said the victory has boosted the morale of his players and they are looking forward to the clash against the Bafana Bafana on Wednesday, promising not to leave any stone unturned to actualise victory.
The Supreme Court friday upheld the election of the Osun governor, Oyetola, the validly elected governor of osun state.
In a majority ruling of five judges to two, the apex court agreed in substance with the Apeal court ruling voiding the ruling of the election tribunal, which gave victory to Adeleke.
The conspiratorial silence of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress Party, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is raising eyebrows within the Yoruba nation and its intelligentsia, who fear that he has no interest of the race at heart beyond his parochial personal ambition of clinching the presidency in 2023.
Already, in deft political moves, he has succeeded in installing his loyalists at the National Assembly after a second attempt. He had tried to install Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila as both the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2015, but his plans met a brick-wall in the deft moves of former Senate President, Bukola Saraki. Now, he is busy strategizing for the Presidency.
But his stratagems run afoul of the position gradually being taken by the Yoruba elite against what a commentator described as the lame duck and clannish regime of Muhammadu Buhari.
He has created his own faction of Afenifere, the Yoruba Socio-cultural group. Only recently, while Afenifere was having a security summit, he took his own faction on a solidarity visit to the presidency, thereby rekindling the war of words between him and Yinka Odumakin, the Afenifere spokesperson.
He has been silent since the Ruga controversy started.
Pundits interpret his silence as a strategic move not to annoy the North that he may eventually use as step ladder to the presidency. The North has, however, in several fora, been stating unequivocally that there is no vacancy in Aso Rock for any southerner come 2023.
His position appears to be weakening his influence in the South west. Apart from his political godchildren, the majority of south west elite appear to be getting tired of his antics. This may have resulted in a subtle shift in allegiance of foreign missions. Only recently, representatives of the United states were on ground to met Ganiyu Adams, the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, on Ruga and the Security situation in Nigeria. This in itself is a bold statement.
Even Kayode Fayemi, another person rumored to have presidential ambition, has come out openly against Ruga. Babajide Sanwolu, Tinubu’s protégé in Lagos government house, has also kept mute as the Ruga controversy rages.
It is not clear what role Tinubu has been playing in the various security and town hall meetings of the Yoruba nation, but one thing is clear, “the rug is no longer guaranteed to be squarely under his feet”, as a Yoruba elder put it recently.
