By Chrysanthus Ikeh
Nigeria has been listed among countries likely to host the 2015 African Cup of Nations after Morocco was stripped of the hosting rights and disqualified from participating in the tournament for seeking a postponement of the tournament due to the fear of Ebola outbreak in the country.
After CAF made the announcement of the north African country’s ban on Tuesday, November 11, 2014, Nigeria was listed alongside Algeria, Angola and Egypt as possible replacements to host the 2015 AFCON, according to reports.
CAF confirmed in statement that the executive committee took note of some countries which are interested in taking up the hosting duties, some of which have also submitted applications already.
‘The executive committee took note of receipt… of some applications of national associations confirming their desire to host the 2015 competition on the dates agreed.’
The committee also confirmed that applications for hosting the tournament is under review and that it will reveal the successful country days from now.
‘These applications are currently under review, and the executive committee will finalise the selection of the successful national association shortly and confirm the place and date of the draw of the final tournament at the same time.’
The Nations Cup is billed to host between January and February 2015 and Nigeria co-hosted the 22nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations with Ghana 14 years ago.
But with a plethora of security issues and gross lack of the maintenance culture to keep her sporting facilities in the required state, Nigeria faces an uphill task emerging above the other countries although Egypt is not without problems of security and instability also, according to reports.
