Construction Works Knocked out S/Leone, CIV Match from Lagos

Information has emerged as to the reason why Lagos State Government declined the hosting this weekend’s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier encounter between Sierra-Leone and Cote d’Ivoire earlier slated for the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos was taken to Port Harcourt.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), had accepted the offer from the Confederation of African Football, CAF, to host the qualifier and had given the hosting right to Lagos.

Sources however, revealed that the state government declined the offer to play host to the match involving Sierra Leone, which has just come out of the scourge of the dreaded Ebola disease.

One of the major reasons why the government declined the offer was because of the ongoing renovation of some sections of the stadium, which have seen contractors moving in to begin the repair works.

This, according to the government’s thinking, would not have allowed a match of an international magnitude of this nature taking place at the sports complex.

It is also believed that the authorities might have taken a critical look at the hosting of the match, which will see influx of fans from Sierra Leone into Lagos to support their team.

“I think we need to be sincere with ourselves. It will be dangerous at this time for a match like this to be played not only in Lagos but also any state in Nigeria, considering that Sierra Leone is just coming out of Ebola scourge and the clean bill of health is not there yet. It would be out of place to bring in people from this country to Lagos. I believe that no government would want to take any chance. We all knew what happened last year, God forbid; we should experience a thing like that again. Government might have been mindful of precautionary measure to safe guard its citizens,” an independent observer of the situation has said.