The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Shehu Abdullahi

  • Musa, Iwobi, Shehu arrive in Asaba

    The trio of Ahmed Musa, Alex Iwobi and Shehu Abdullahi arrived at the Super Eagles’ training camp in Asaba on Wednesday afternoon for the preparation of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.

    Their arrival swelled the list of the players in camp to 23.

    The team’s camp was officially opened on Sunday at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba but Musa, Iwobi and Abdullahi were given extra days off from camp by the team’s head Coach Gernot Rohr.

    NationSport had earlier reported that Musa and Abdullahi were permitted to skip training in the last three days to enable them to finish their Ramadan fasting and celebrate Salah festival with their families, while Iwobi came late to the camp due to his involvement in Arsenal’s UEFA Europa League final against Chelsea in Baku.

    Read Also: Super Eagles strikers give Rohr sleepless night

    He scored Arsenal consolation goal in a 1-3 defeat to Chelsea.  However, the duo of Odion Ighalo and William Troost-Ekong are yet to arrive in the camp. A source in the camp told NationSport that Ighalo and Troost-Ekong may join the team today.

    Ighalo suffered a hamstring injury in his side’s 1-1 draw at Tianjin Teda on May 10 and has not featured in a competitive game for Shanghai Shenhua since his terrible injury.

    Ighalo resumed full training last Tuesday with the possibility that he will recover very fast before the camp opened for the AFCON preparation but his absence in camp has continued to put doubt on his fitness level for the AFCON with just a few days to kick off.

    Super Eagles trained once on Wednesday under the guidance of coach Rohr and his assistants. The training session, which was opened for fans and media, started at 4.15 pm.

     

  • Police parade seven Birni-Gwari armed robbery suspects in Katsina

    The Katsina State Police Command, on Tuesday evening, paraded no fewer than 7 armed suspects for alleged armed robbery and kidnap operations particularly along Birnin-Gwari and Rugu forests

    They include Mohammed Tukur, 30 of Kubau local government area of Kaduna state; Ibrahim Umar, 18 of Maidabino village, Danmusa local government area of Katsina state and Musa Sani,19, of Kankara local government area also of Katsina state.

    The state police Commissioner, Muhammadu Wakili who briefed the press before parading the suspects at the Command headquarters in Katsina, revealed that the first three suspects were arrested on 17, November, 2018 following a distress call received by Divisional police officer  for Malumfashi local government area,SP Atiku and his team  that  armed bandits had attacked  a cow trader, Alhaji Salisu Abdullahi and his brother, Shehu Abdullahi and rustled seventy cows from them.

    The police Commissioner said” The police team had a fierce encounter with the hoodlums and succeeded in arresting some of them.

    “In the course of investigation, two AK 47 rifles with Breech Nos.1968th 5545 and 1975842222, thirty-nine rounds of life ammunition and nineteen rounds of blank ammunition were recovered from the suspects. Investigation is ongoing with a view to arresting other members of their syndicate.”

    Also paraded were Samaila Yau,35 and Sanusi Bello,30 ,both of Gangara village, Malumfashi local government area of katsina state.

    They were arrested on 12, November, 2018 as they were about allegedly kidnapping one Mallam Magaji Umaru, of Kuriri village also in the local government area.

    Read Also: 2019: IG warns policemen against partisan politics

    Wakili further disclosed that the duo had already confessed to committing the crime.

    He said “On 17, November, 2018 at about 09:00hrs,men of the Safer High way and police patrol team attached to Batsari division, Katsina state, arrested the duo of one Abubakar Saidu, m ,aged 20 years of Giwa local government area  of Kaduna state and Adamu Haruna,m,aged 25 years of Ilela village, Safana local government area of katsina state in possession of one empty shell of GPMG ammunition’’.

    “In the course of investigation, suspects confessed to belonging to gangs of kidnappers/ cattle rustlers operating in Birnin-Gwari forest and were invited to Rugu forest for their nefarious activities. The sum of twenty thousand naira (N20,000) was found in possession of Abubakar Saidu who confessed   that the money is a proceed of kidnapping. Suspects confessed to various kidnappings within and outside the state. Investigation is ongoing.’

    He assured that all the suspects would soon appear in court after completion of investigation on their various cases.

  • Musa Mohammed to replace injured Ebuehi, Shehu Abdullahi

    Former captain of the Nigeria U-17 and U-20 team Musa Muhammed has been called up to the Nigerian team for their upcoming AFCON 2019 qualifiers tie against Seychelles, Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

    Musa who recently moved to Croatian side HNK Gorica, will make up for the absence of the injured first-choice duo of Tyronne Ebuehi and Shehu Abdullahi who are both out of the game.

    The former Istanbul Basaksehir full-back won the heart of Coach Gernot Rohr with his strong display for the B team of Nigeria in the 2-3 friendly loss against Atletico Madrid shortly before the World Cup.

    Furthermore, he played in Rohr’s first game, which was against Tanzania before losing his spot to the duo of Ebuehi and Abdullahi, no thanks to his inactivity in Turkey back then with Istanbul Basaksehir.

    Since moving to Gorica of Croatia on a free transfer he has played just six minutes in the two games they have played so far and that was in the game against Hajduk Split which they won 2-0.

  • Court remands varsity students for death of colleague

    A Minna Magistrates’ Court, has remanded three students in prison custody for allegedly beating and detaining their fellow student on suspicion that he stole an HTC handset, valued N32, 000.

    The accused persons are, Jibrin Attahiru and Idris Usman, both of the Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida University, Lapai and one other student, Shehu Abdullahi from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

    The three students were docked on a two-count charge of criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide, contrary to Sections 97 and 221 of the Penal Code law.

    The Police Prosecutor, Sgt. John Steven, told the court that one Mohammed Aliyu, the Chief Security Officer of IBB University Lapai, reported the matter at the station on July 24.

    Read Also: Banker arraigned for swindling customers of N13.6m

    Steven quoted the complainant as alleging that on July 23, the accused persons suspected one Mubarak Sanusi, a student of the same institution, to have stolen an HTC handset, valued N32, 000 belonging to one of them.

    He said the accused persons picked up Sanusi and took him to their lodge, where they beat him up and detained him inside the toilet.

    According to him, Sanusi was said to have given up the ghost on the way to the General Hospital, Lapai, the following day.

    When the charge was read to them, they all pleaded not guilty.

    The prosecutor, thereafter, prayed the court for adjournment, as investigation into the matter was still ongoing.

    In her ruling, Magistrate Fati Auna, ordered the accused persons to be remanded in prison and adjourned the matter until Sept. 3.

  • Nigeria fall to England in Wembley

    Adeyinka Akintunde

     

    The Super Eagles of Nigeria continued preparations to the 2018 FIFA World Cup with a 2-1 loss to  England at the Wembley Stadium, London, in an international friendly match.

    Two first half goals from Gary Cahill at the seventh minute and Harry Kane after 39 minutes sealed the victory for the Three Lions, and a 47th minute consolation from Alex Iwobi was insufficient for Nigeria to leave London avoiding a defeat.

    Kieran Trippier had a chance six minutes into the match when he stepped up and curled the ball around the wall but goalkeeper Francis Uzoho to palmed it away for a corner. The resulting corner became the first goal, Gary Cahill converting the corner kick.

    Gernot Rohr’s men almost got the leveler 26 minutes into the match, as they sneak in past the Three Lions backline. Unfortunately, Odion Ighalo could not get to a twisting pass before 24- year old Jordan Pickford.

    Harry Kane doubled the lead after Shehu Abdullahi carelessly lost possession and the Tottenham Hotspur took advantage, finding space on the edge of the box before smashing it into the bottom corner.

    The Super Eagles began the second half with four substitutes that saw the introduction ofd Tyrone Ebuehi, John Ogu, Oghenekaro Etebo and Kelechi Iheanacho, and that brought a lot of spark to the Nigerian side.

    Read Also: Full-Time: England 2 – 1 Nigeria: Fans Boo Dele Alli

    Nigeria halved the deficit just as the second half began courtesy of Alex Iwobi’s cool finish after Odion Ighalo had struck the upright. This made Iwobi the first Nigerian to score in an international match against England.  All attempts to find the equalizer proved abortive.

    Speaking at the end of the match, England Manager, Gareth Southgate said “I think we played really well than in recent games. We were deservedly two goals up in the first half. The period leading up to their goal, they changed their system and we took some time to adjust. But after that we dealt with it well. It was a decent exercise for us to adjust to that.

    The Super Eagles have thus had four international friendly matches ahead of the World Cup, recording a slim victory over Poland in Wrowclaw, a draw against DR Congo and two losses against Serbia and England. They take a final trip to Austria where they face Czech Republic on Wednesday.

    Nigeria, grouped in Group D alongside Croatia, Argentina and Iceland, begins their World Cup campaign against Croatia on June 16th, 2018.

  • FIFA Sanction: Pinnick apologises to Nigerians

    FIFA Sanction: Pinnick apologises to Nigerians

    The president of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick has apologised to Nigerians and football lovers for the FIFA sanctions on the country.

    FIFA had rejected Nigeria’s defence on the use of an ineligible player during the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Algeria in Constantine on Friday, 10th November 2017, thus awarding the match to Algeria.

    However, FIFA said the sanction does not in any way hurt Nigeria’s qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals, as the Super Eagles had picked the ticket from Group B ahead of the clash in Constantine.

    But Pinnick through his twitter handle:@PinnickAmaju tendered this apology and took full responsibility of the NFF’s actions.

    He said; “I’ll start by tendering my wholehearted apology to Nigeria and Nigerians for the Shehu Abdullahi error. It is unforgivable and could have undone months of hard work. As head of the Federation, I take responsibility for this. It happened on my watch.

    “While accepting the Federation’s fault here, let me quickly explain how this went by unnoticed. It doesn’t change the fact that we didn’t keep our eyes on the ball and will help us in our planned restructuring of the Technical & Competitions Department.

    Read Also: FIFA sanctions Nigeria for use of ineligible player

    “Shehu Abdullahi got his first yellow card in our very first preliminary match against Swaziland away. When the draws for the Group Stages were made, the Technical staff made a grave error; assumption. They assumed the cards gotten prior would not count.

    “To be fair to them, throughout the qualifying series, official match documents didn’t even show that Shehu Abdullahi was on a yellow card. For instance, when we played Cameroon, Mikel, Moses and Balogun were put on notice that they had yellow cards.

    “Team meetings were even held about how to handle their cards so they wouldn’t miss crucial games. Shehu Abdullahi was never in the mix. Shehu then recieved a yellow against Zambia in our penultimate game, two years after the Swaziland match.

    “Another grave mistake then occurred. FIFA sent an email to the technical officer in charge, that Shehu Abdullahi was suspended for the Algeria match. In a twist of fate, that officer was in hospital, with a severe heart condition, battling for his life.

    “The biggest knock to our system is the fact that his official correspondences should have been forwarded to more than one person. It wasn’t. We went into our last match not knowing about Fifa’s notice. Not acceptable, I agree, but these are the facts of the matter.

    “On the match day, we were unaware, the match officials were unaware and our opponents were unaware. It was a horrendous error and we at the Federation are truly apologetic. We thank God it did not undue years of hard work.

    “It was a lack of due diligence in and by one of our departments and we are ensuring that errors like these never happen again. On behalf of all of us at the @thenff; I apologise, Nigeria. Our focus remains. We will soar higher.”

  • Nigeria vs zambia: Shehu Abdullahi Pockets N1M MoM Prize

    Nigeria vs zambia: Shehu Abdullahi Pockets N1M MoM Prize

    Super Eagles defender Shehu Abdullahi won the One Million naira (N1,000,000) prize money for Man of the Match(MOM) in the Nigeria versus Zambia World Cup Qualifier played in Uyo on Saturday.

    The cheque was presented to the Nigeria international who plies his trade for Anorthosis club short after the Super Eagles won the match by 1-0 through Alex Iwobi’s goal at the 75th minutes.

    Through Alex Iwobi’s goal Nigeria on Satuday Nigeria has become the first African side to seal a place at next year’s World Cup in Russia. The win put the national team on an unassailable 13 points at the top of Group B.

    Chances were missed at both ends by the time Shehu Abdullahi provided the cut-back for Iwobi to finish from inside the box in the 73rd minute.

    Odion Ighalo, John Mikel Obi, Victor Moses and Moses Simon went close for the Super Eagles but failed to score.

    Zambia goalkeeper Kennedy Mwenne produced an acrobatic save to deny Wilfred Ndidi in the second half in a pulsating end-to-end encounter.

  • Nigeria Drops Moses, Mikel for Nations Cup Qualifiers, Invites Youssef

    Nigeria Drops Moses, Mikel for Nations Cup Qualifiers, Invites Youssef

    Nigeria have left out Chelsea star Victor Moses from their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against South Africa next month.

    Captain John Obi Mikel is also among the high-profile names missing in the squad list released by Super Eagles Coach, Genort Rohr for the match against South Africa.

    Moses is being omitted despite having a splendid season with Chelsea while Mikel is understood to still be recuperating from an injury setback that has forced him undergo surgery,

    Also conspicuously missing from the list of 23 players are the China-based duo of Odion Ighalo and Brown Ideye.

    MFM FC strike partners, Stephen Odey and Sikiru Olatunbosun, have also been overlooked as Rohr takes a gamble with a lot of fresh inclusion in his list.

    The Super Eagles host the Bafana Bafana at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo in their first AFCON 2019 qualifying match.

    The last time both sides met was also at the same venue, in a 2015 AFCON qualifier, which ended 2-2 and subsequently knocked Nigeria out of qualifying for the 2015 AFCON just two years after winning it.

    There is also another surprise regarding the list, as little-known Maroof Youssef, who plays for Zamalek in Egypt was included.

    The full list

    Goalkeepers: Daniel Akpeyi, Ikechukwu Ezenwa and Dele Alampasu

    Defenders: Elderson Echiejile, Kenneth Omeruo, Tyrone Ebuehi, Chidozie Awaziem, Shehu Abdullahi, William Ekong and Maroof Youssef

    Midfielders: Ogenyi Onazi, John Ogu, Oghenekaro Etebo, Alhassan Ibrahim, Mikel Agu and Wilfred Ndidi

    Attackers: Ahmed Musa, Kelechi Iheanacho, Alex Iwobi, Moses Simon, Henry Onyekuru, Olanrewaju Kayode and Victor Osimhen.

  • Ighalo lands in France for Eagles’ friendlies

    Ighalo lands in France for Eagles’ friendlies

    Watford striker, Odion Ighalo, has arrived the Super Eagles’ camp ahead of friendlies against Mali and Luxembourg, making him the first player to hit the team’s hotel in Rouen, France.

    Ighalo, who travelled to the French city from London, arrived in the evening and was received by the Super Eagles Team Secretary, Dayo Enebi, africanFootball.com reports.

    Other members of the team led by interim head coach, Salisu Yusuf, left Nigeria on Tuesday night.

    The team included Ogenyi Onazi, Etebo Oghenekaro, Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Elderson Echiejile, Umar Aminu, Shehu Abdullahi, Kingsley Madu, Musa Mohammed and Brown Ideye.

  • Shehu Abdullahi dedicates goal to late father

    Shehu Abdullahi dedicates goal to late father

    Super Eagles’ defender, Abdullahi Shehu has dedicated his first Portuguese League goal to the memory of his father, Alhaji Dinawa Shehu who died last year after a brief illness.

    Shehu hit the bull’s eye in the 30th minute at the Centro Desportivo da Madeira on Saturday to lead his club, Uniao da Madeira to a 3-0 home win over neighbours, Nacional in the MatchDay 19 of the Portugal Primeria Liga.

    Shehu, in a chat from his base, revealed that the victory was for their supporters who have charged them to ensure that they beat Nacional in the local derby after their triumph over Boavista, another neighbour recently.

    He was more than delighted to break his goal duck for Uniao da Madeira and that with that win against Nacional they are looking forward to grabbing a surprise slot in Europe at the end of the season.

    “I want to dedicate this goal to my dad. He was of immense support to my career and after his death I have struggled to fill the vacuum created by him. No wonder I decided to dedicate my first goal in Uniao shirt to him.

    “We are still in the race for European football next season and even though we would be satisfied with staying in the top-flight we won’t mind the chance of represent Portugal in Europe in only our first season in the elite division,” Shehu told SportingLife.

    Uniao da Madeira are currently 11th on the log with 23 points from 19 matches and are six points adrift of Pacos de Ferreira who currently occupy the last slot for the Europa League qualification ticket.