The Eagle Online has exclusively gathered that Nigeria is prepared to profit from Morocco’s plans to shed the hosting of the 2015 Nations Cup.
Our impeccable source hinted that efforts are being in place to ensure that the three-time African Champions do not miss out of the most spectacular football fiesta on the continent despite struggling to pick a ticket for the competition they won in South Africa 2013.
The source said: “Aside South Africa, who last hosted the competition, it is only Nigeria that is capable of hosting this competition on short notice.
“The facilities are in place in Nigeria and we are the only country aside the Rainbow country that is capable of springing surprises at a time like such as this.”
The source pointed out that the National Stadium, Abuja; the U.J. Esuene Stadium in Calabar, Cross River State; the newly constructed stadium in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State; and some other artificial turfs are in place in the country to host some of the matches of the 16 teams tournament.
Hosting the competition could be the escape route for the Super Eagles lacklustre performance so far in their Nations Cup qualifying campaign.
Meanwhile, the Moroccan Ministry of Health on Friday night appealed to the Confederation of African Football to either postpone the tournament or give the hosting rights to another country.
That situation grew yet gloomier on Saturday, with the Ministry of Health indicating that the country would not organise the tournament in January.
This came in spite of CAF’s insistence that the show would go on.
The danger of Ebola plunging the qualification into disarray has not quite materialised, although Sierra Leone’s campaign has been severely hit by the absence of home advantage, whilst time will tell whether that factor will ultimately deny Guinea.
Fears surrounding Nigeria and Ivory Coast – two of Africa’s biggest hitters – have as of yet not come to fruition.
Events of the last week have however seen the concerns grow more severe – or at least finally brought it to the attention of a world outside Africa, who were somewhat ignorant to the scale of risk – with numerous cases being identified outside of the continent.
There is also a realisation that this not an emergency exclusive to Africa but one with implications across the globe – frustratingly that recognition has taken an exasperating timeframe and some would argue swifter action might have negotiated the current state of hysteria.
Even African football enthusiasts would hasten to deny that the Moroccan authorities concern is valid – again football is a mere insignificance on the overall spectrum of importance.
The stance is arguably anything but rash either, with Morocco as a country largely understanding of the situation – Royal Air Maroc remains one of just a small proportion of state owned airlines continuing flights to and from West Africa.
For all the precautions put in place – Morocco has been quick to instil numerous prevention measures – nothing can be considered a certain method to identifying the disease, given symptoms can go undetected for 21 days.
With vast thousands of individuals transitioning in and out of the North African country – at the same potentially journeying throughout the continent – the impending AFCON would represent an avenue for widespread infection thus making the risk too substantial even for contemplation.
Again from a single-minded footballing perspective, there is also growing viability that even should the competition go ahead within the current climate, getting players to make the journey to Morocco could signify an arduous assignment.