11th May, 2012
Nigeria has moved its coming World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifiers over fears of attacks by Boko Haram, a radical Islamist sect.
The Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, issued a statement saying matches scheduled for 3 and 17 June would be played at the U.J. Esuene Stadium in Calabar, a city in the country’s far southeast. The federation earlier ruled out playing the matches at the National Stadium in the central capital of Abuja, saying the grass pitch there had not been looked after and would not be ready in time.
Nigeria will face Namibia in a World Cup qualifier on 3 June and then play Rwanda in a Nations Cup qualifying match.
“We looked at all the options available to us and we decided Calabar is the best choice for now,” the statement quoted NFF President, Aminu Maigari, as saying.
Maigari said the decision had to be made known as FIFA wanted Nigeria to confirm a venue for the 3 June match today.
The two qualifiers had been scheduled to be held in Kaduna, where an Easter suicide car bombing killed at least 41 people. Boko Haram later carried out a bomb attack on ThisdDay Newspaper office building killing at least four people.