#EndSARS: S/Eagles may boycott matches with S/Leone

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…Says “we don’t want to die”

There are strong indications that some Super Eagles stars may boycott next month’s 2021 Africa Cup of Nation double-header against Sierra Leone over safety concerns.

#EndSARS protests against police brutality and extrajudicial killings have rocked the country in the last two weeks, with the military and police killing peaceful protesters.

On Tuesday, eyewitnesses claim about seven lives were lost, with several others injured when soldiers opened fire on protesters in a bid to disperse them from the Lekki toll gate in Lagos — a focal demonstration ground for the #EndSARS campaign.

Our correspondent gathered that the overseas-based players were afraid of returning to Nigeria for Eagles games, for fear of being killed or maimed.

Eagles midfielder John Ogu wrote on Twitter, “The Politicians should ask their children to represent Nigeria in the next @NGSuperEagles @thenff upcoming games. I’m so devastated like right now.”

“We can’t be representing a country that kills our brothers and sisters. This killings and unrest must stop or we stay away,” another player based in Belgium told The PUNCH.

Leicester City forward, Kelechi Iheanacho posted a cryptic message on Twitter with a broken heart emoji to express his dismay at the recent killings.

“God is watching. It will end in praise. We will keep speaking up,” he wrote.

Nigeria is expected to have end to end games with Sierra Leone on 11th and 13th November with each game to be played at 1700 West African Time but the first match to be played in Nigeria.

Eight matches of the African Cup of Nations will be played on 11th November.

Ghana v Sudan; Uganda v Southern Sudan

Cape Verde v Rwanda; Guinea v Chad

Senegal v Guinea Bissau; Libya v Equatorial Guinea

Mauritania v Burundi; Kenya v Comoros.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Super Eagles have dropped by three spots in the October ranking to place 32nd in0 the world after losing one of it’s international friendly match and drawing another within the period under review.
In the ranking table on the website of the world football governing body on Thursday, Nigeria garnered 1488 points in the month of October as against 1493 garnered in September.

The Eagles had on Oct. 9 lost 0-1 to Algeria in an international friendly match and settled for a 1-1 draw in another with Tunisia on Oct. 13.

The drop in the global spot has also dropped the Nigerian National team to the fourth spot on the continent behind Senegal, Tunisia and Algeria respectively as against the third position it occupied in September.

-Patmos media

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