NFF rules out Abuja Stadium for World Cup play-off (After spending billions to build it)

Posted by admin Headlines, Soccer, Sports Tuesday, September 17th, 2013

From ROMANUS UGWU, Abuja

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) may have technically ruled out the possibility of the Super Eagles using the newly refurbished Abuja National Stadium for the FIFA World Cup play-off tie despite the official unveiling of the stadium today.

The Chairman of the Security Sub-committee of the Federation, Chief Effiong Johnson, who made the disclosure in an exclusive chat with Daily SunSports recently, sited security implication as reason for the decision, warning that it would be difficult to guarantee the safety of the lives of players, officials and the spectators.

Arguing that there would be cautious efforts to restudy the terrain of the stadium to know the kind of security arrangements to put in place before, during and after a match, the chairman of chairmen insisted that it could be a risk for Super Eagles to return to the stadium with an important crucial international qualifier match.

He suggested that for security reasons, it would be wise to test run the organisation of matches at the stadium with an international friendly, stressing: “Playing at the Abuja National Stadium is a different ball game from playing in both Calabar and Kaduna.

“The location of the Abuja Stadium requires a fresh security report on the terrain, to know the kind of precautionary arrangements we have to put in place. If Super Eagles must return to the stadium, it is not going to be with a crucial international match like World Cup play-offs or any qualifier match.

“We can only start from friendly matches to test run the security challenges around the stadium.”

-Sunwp_posts