Nigerian striker Odafe on fire in India

KOLKATA Nigerian striker Odafa Okolie fired a brace as Mohun Bagan got past Air India 3-1 in an Indian-League football match at the Salt Lake Stadium onWednesday.    
While Odafa scored once in each half - in the 41st  and 84th minutes, Ashim Biswas found the target in the 80th minute while Md. Safi struck the only goal for the airmen.
After a dozen outings, Bagan now have 24 points, while Air India stay on 19.    
Odafa drew first blood from a Hudson Lima pass. The Nigerian outwitted two defenders and placed home.   
The airmen upped the ante in the second session and Safi scored in the 54th minute to make the scoreline 1-1.  But the deadlock was broken yet again as Ashim Biswas trapped a Rakesh Masih pass and beat Air India’s Sengalese defender Lamine Tamba to send the ball in with a rasping shot from a narrow angle.   
Six minutes from time, Odafa launched into a solo from outside the box, beat a maze of defenders and found the net for the final goal of the match.     

Nigerian Christians will defend self if bombs continue

   
LAGOS Pentecostal church leaders in Nigeria said on Wednesday their members will defend themselves if authorities do not protect them from attacks, after Christmas bombings blamed on Islamists killed 40.
The bombings attributed to Islamist group Boko Haram, with two churches targeted on Christmas day and a third on Christmas Eve, have sparked fears that they could ignite a fresh round of sectarian violence.
"In the year 2012, if these unprovoked attacks continue, and Christians remain unprotected by the security agencies, then we will have no choice but to defend our lives and property," a coalition of Pentecostal churches said in a statement.
The coalition, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, claims its membership is in the millions in Nigeria. Evangelical churches have been growing rapidly in Nigeria.
Asked what defending themselves meant, an official with the organisation said they were not advocating violence.
"We are not advocating taking up of arms," said coalition national secretary Wale Adefarasin said.
But we are asking our members to defend themselves with whatever they have that is within the law -- take necessary steps to defend yourself within the law. We cannot just become sitting ducks for these people."
Some neighbourhoods in Nigeria hard hit by ethnic and religious violence have long had so-called vigilante groups, though community leaders say they are not armed and report potential trouble to the police.
"There is no end to the wanton destruction of lives and property by this terrorist group," the coalition said of Boko Haram, which has claimed responsibility for scores of attacks, mainly in northeastern Nigeria.
The church coalition said it was concerned that the sect and its supporters have continued to wage "war" against Christians "in the furtherance of their Islamisation agenda," especially in the north.
It listed pastors and Christians it claimed have been killed along with churches and properties allegedly destroyed by sect members since 2009.
 "Over the years, so much violence has been committed against the church. They have done this with reckless abandon and with no serious check by the government," Adefarasin, head of Garden of Light Assembly church, said.

The State of Qatar Condemns Nigeria's Attacks

DOHA The State of Qatar has expressed its strong condemnation and denunciation of the series of Christmas Day attacks on churches in Nigeria that killed a number of innocent civilians, and considered them as contravening moral and human values and religious tolerance principles.
An official source at the Foreign Ministry expressed in a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA) on Tuesday Qatar's sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and the injured reiterating Qatar s solidarity with the government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The source renewed Qatar's firm position that condemns and rejects terrorism in all its forms and types regardless of its source.

Nigerians flying to Malaysia face heightened drug screening

      
  LAGOS  Nigerian authorities have placed a red alert on all passengers flying to Malaysia because of an alarming surge in the number of suspected drug traffickers arrested on that route, an official statement said.
Nigeria's anti-drug agency NDLEA said its boss, Ahmadu Giade, took the measure due to "the increasing number of arrests made on the route and the need to prevent obstinate drug traffickers from smuggling drugs to Malaysia where drug offences attract capital punishment."
Giade appealed to airlines and passengers travelling to Malaysia to submit to intensified security screening.
"The increasing number of arrests on the Nigeria-Malaysia route is alarming. We must be prepared to make sacrifices in protecting the image of the country and prevent the execution of our nationals abroad on account of drug crimes," he said.
The figure of suspected drug traffickers travelling to Malaysia arrested at Lagos airport rose sharply from two last year to 21 so far this year, NDLEA spokesman Ofoyeju Mitchell said.
A 38-year-old South African woman, Nene Fikile Happy-girl, and a Nigerian, Onyemaechi Remigus Chibuzor, 29, were arrested last week at the Lagos international airport as they tried to board an Emirate flight to Malaysia.
They were found in possession of methamphetamine, the agency said.

Nigerian expats in Qatar condemm Christmas day attacks

Nigerian residents in Qatar have condemned the Christmas day suicide bombings which have claimed the lives of some 35 people in Nigeria, while calling upon the government to bring the perpetrators to book.
According to agency reports, the attacks included a church blast outside the capital - Abuja - killing at least 30 people, a bomb blast outside an evangelical church in the central city of Jos, that killed a police officer, and another explosion targeting a church in the northeastern area of Gadaka on Christmas Eve, but no one was reported killed, while two other blasts hit the northeastern city of Damaturu on Christmas Day, including the suicide bombing.
Some of the residents, a majority of whom are Muslims,  yesterday condemned the incidents while blaming them on political sentiments rather than religious divisions.
They blasted the government for condoning the deadly acts of a mastermind group “Boko haram”, which has been blamed for a series of attacks in different parts of Nigeria and also claiming responsibilities for the latest bombings in the country.
A good number of the people believed that the elements within the “Boko haram” group are the creations of the politicians, who have used them to actualise their electoral goals and thereafter refused to meet their requirements, an action which they said has turned the group into what they are today.
“It is very unfortunate that such incidents are happening in Nigeria and also unfortunate that they are being perpetrated in the name of Islam as those behind the dastardly acts always claim,” Nigerian Muslim Community in Qatar (Nimco) Amir Mohamed Basheer said.
He condemned the attacks and asked the Nigerian government not to be biased in fishing out the masterminds while also cautioning the use of violence against them in order to get to the root of the matter.
“While all well-meaning Muslims in Nigeria and abroad are against events like these, we will also advice the Nigerian government not to employ force in dealing with the so-called Islamist group. Instead, they should be invited for dialogue where they can air their grievances and seek possible solutions to end the bloodshed as soon as possible. I believe this might also bring to an end all these propaganda against Islam,” Basheer suggested.
Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation- Qatar chapter (NIDO-Qatar) secretary general Godfrey Awinoron, who is a Christian, asked the Nigerian government to deal decisively with the insurgent group saying “they are already a threat to the country’s stability”.
“The government should seek all legal means to remove the threat constituted by this group and seek avenues that will guarantee security of all Nigerians,” he suggested.
Another Nigerian Muslim, Abdulrahmon Olukade also absolved Islam from the group saying “they are not in any way related to Islam”.
“These particular group of people do not represent well-meaning Muslims in Nigeria and what they are doing is out-rightly against the teachings of Islam and it is very sad that many people find it difficult to believe this,” he lamented.
Olukade believed that the group behind the bombings must have the backings of some highly placed politicians, who were possibly sponsoring them.
“It is sad that innocent people are being killed while celebrating Christmas but I see those attacks more of being politically-motivated than what Boko haram can handle. This is just another sign of total lack of security of lives and properties in Nigeria,” Isa Ojetola , a Muslim, said.
A Nigerian Christian, Adeboye Dehinbo, said he was sad upon hearing the news. “Our government is not doing enough to ensure the  safety of the lives and properties of its people ,” he said.

More explosions, gunfire hit northeastern Nigerian city

   
KANO A fresh round of explosions and gunfire hit the Nigerian city of Damaturu on Friday as authorities battled suspected members of Islamist sect Boko Haram, a day after unrest killed six people.
Residents reported seeing trucks of soldiers arriving in Damaturu and said authorities gave them 30 minutes to evacuate the neighbourhood of Pompomari. Some took refuge at the city's central mosque, one resident said.
"Our men have been battling with Boko Haram members," said Lawan Tanko, police commissioner for the northeastern state of Yobe, where Damaturu is located.
"Our men have been making attempts to go into the house they have been using as a hideout to defuse explosives, but they are facing some resistance from the Boko Haram elements who are detonating explosives and firing shots."
"We have all fled our homes," one Pompomari resident said by phone, adding he had taken refuge at the mosque. "We were given 30 minutes by soldiers to evacuate and they were about to launch an offensive on the Boko Haram members."
Unrest broke out on Thursday in Damaturu and two other northeastern cities, Maiduguri and Potiskum. The death toll from Thursday was at least six, an official and a medical source said.
"From reports I have received from Potiskum, five people were killed in last night's attack -- four policemen and a civilian," said Ibrahim Farinloye, northeast coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency.
"Three police vans were also burnt in the attack."
A hospital source in Damaturu had said late on Thursday that a soldier was killed and seven police officers were wounded there. He said a 10-year-old boy was being operated on after being hit by gunfire.
 Tanko had said on Thursday night that suspected Boko Haram members had carried out bombings and shootings in Damaturu.
 He said he did not have details on casualties, but added that a church and a military patrol van were burnt. He said the attackers had been repelled and pushed toward Potiskum.
A military spokesman in Maiduguri said multiple blasts hit the city on Thursday, but could not give further details. An army source said six explosions were heard.
Maiduguri has borne the brunt of the violence attributed to Boko Haram, which has claimed responsibility for scores of attacks in the north as well as the August suicide bombing of UN headquarters in the capital Abuja that killed at least 24.

Yaya Toure wins African Player of the Year

ACCRA Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure has been named African Player of the Year at an awards ceremony in the Ghanaian capital Accra.
The Manchester City player won ahead of Mali and Barcelona midfielder Seydou Keita, with Ghana forward Andre Ayew who plays for French club Marseille third.
Harouna Doula won Coach of the Year at Thursday's annual Confederation of African Football awards after he led Niger to its first African Cup of Nations finals, qualifying from a group containing South Africa and record seven-time champion Egypt.
Botswana won Team of the Year after it also qualified for its first African Cup.
Former Nigeria international Jay Jay Okocha and Morocco's Mustapha Hadji were honored with African legends awards.