former super Eagle, Shittu Dies At 75

NEWSMEN gathered that the former Nigerian striker, who has been bed-ridden with stroke since February, died around 12:30pm today at the General Hospital in Gbagada, Lagos State, Nigeria. He was aged 75. A close of friend of the former NEPA-ECN player, Adenuga confirmed his death this afternoon.

Report said the late Shittu, who was survived by two boys and a girl, battled hard to stay alive from the ailment, “but he gave up in a painful way this afternoon, just 24 hours to the day that Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola plans to fly him to Indian for further treatment.”

According to  Adenuga, “We have notified the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Lanre Babalola, to inform him of the latest development. The burial is tentatively fixed for Wednesday, 14 March, 2012. It is painful that Shittu has to leave his little children and rest of us at this period,” Adenuga lamented this afternoon. Shittu, fondly called ‘The Bulldozer’ was one of the greatest footballers that ever played for Nigeria even under the colonial masters.

Born in Jos, Plateau State in 1937, by a Yoruba parentage, Amusa Shittu began his soccer career in 1958, when he featured for Plateau and Northern Region X1. The ebony-black striker got his first invitation into the national team, The Red Devils, in 1959, where he showcased his soccer talents alongside great players like Teslim Balogun, Dejo Fayemi, Olu Onagoruwa, Jide Johnson, Monday Sinclair, Cyril Nwajei, Godwin Etemeke, Asuquo Ekpe and Peter Amaechima.

Although he had his first call up to the national team in 1959, Amusa Shittu made his debut on 10 September, 1960, when he played in Nigeria’s 2-2 draw against Ghana in a World Cup qualifier. He scored his first international goal in Nigeria’s 4-1 victory against Port Guinea, now Guinea Bissau in October 1960. Shittu was also renowned for scoring the only goal in an Olympic qualifier in Nigeria against Sudan on 5 November, 1967 and also scored two goals in the reverse fixture on 17 November in Khartoun to silence the vociferous Sudanese home supporters.

He was a member of the Green Eagles squad that played against the visiting German Olympic team in 1971 at Onikan Stadium, Lagos. On the local scene, Amusa Shittu was in the team that won the F.A Cup for the Western Region in 1961 and indeed, was the first footballer to have scored an F.A Cup final goal outside the Onikan Stadium in the1961 final between his team and UAC, Broad Street Millionaires, at the Old National Stadium, the site of the present National Stadium.

Shittu’s greatest moment was in 1970 when he propelled ECN (NEPA) to their third F.A Cup glory against his former club, Highlanders of Jos.The game had ended 1-1 apiece before Shittu, a coach/player, came on to rescue his team by scoring the winning goal for ECN. Shittu, was bed-ridden at the Gbagada General Hospital, Lagos, battling to survive the trauma of stroke that struck him on 12 February, 2012 before he finally gave up today.

Peterson vows to beat Khan again

Lamont Peterson has accused Amir Khan of ‘arrogance’ for suggesting he is unable to fight better than he did in their controversial first bout.

Khan has said he will “win convincingly” in the Las Vegas rematch and that Peterson would not surpass his efforts of their fight in December, BBC reports.

“How can you just assume that I can’t fight better than what I fought him in Washington DC and he can?” he said.

The world title rematch takes place at the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, on May 19.

Khan lost his IBF and WBA light-welterweight belts in December in Washington DC in a split points decision last year.

Peterson told BBC Sport that the Bolton boxer was demonstrating “arrogance” ahead of a London news conference to promote the rematch.

“I won’t say the same about him,” said Peterson. “I expect him to fight a better fight but, at the same time, I know I’m going to be better.

Taliban threaten to behead U.S. soldiers over civilian shootings

The Afghan Taliban on Tuesday threatened to behead U.S. troops in revenge for the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians by a lone American soldier in southern Afghanistan.

“The Islamic Emirate once again warns the American animals that the mujahideen will avenge them, and with the help of Allah will kill and behead your sadistic murderous soldiers,’’ Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.

A U.S. Army staff sergeant has been taken into custody, accused of walking off his base in the volatile province of Kandahar in the middle of the night and gunning down at least 16 villagers, mostly women and children.

 U.S. official said the accused soldier had suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq. The shootings triggered a protest by around 2,000 students in the eastern city of Jalalabad, the first since Sunday’s attack, calling for the U.S. soldier to be prosecuted by Afghan authorities in Kandahar.

The demonstrators chanted “Death to America’’ and demanded Afghan President Hamid Karzai reject plans to sign a strategic pact with Washington that would allow U.S. advisers and possibly special forces to remain beyond a 2014 deadline for foreign combat troops to leave Afghanistan.

Suicidal man climbs telecoms mast in Abuja

Panic gripped Maitama District of Abuja on Tuesday as a man, Mallam Musa Dalhatu, climbed a telecoms mast beside the Federal High Court and threatened to commit suicide. He climbed the mast around noon and ignored appeals for him to come down.

Security agents had a hectic time trying to control the crowd that gathered to watch the spectacle.

Initially, there were speculations that he climbed the mast with a bomb.

But a witness at the scene said Dalhatu threw a note down, claiming he climbed the mast because he wanted people to intervene in a dispute between him and a prominent Nigerian.

The spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency, Yushau Shuaibu, confirmed the development, saying an official of the agency had been trying to persuade Dalhatu to come down from the mast.

Police Inspector, soldier, 4 others killed in Adamawa

A police inspector, a soldier and four other persons were killed in a Monday night attack by unidentified gunmen in Mubi, Adamawa. Eyewitnesses told journalists in Mubi that a unit of military patrol team were also attacked by the gunmen, injuring the men on duty.

The witnesses said that unidentified gunmen attacked a military patrol vehicle on Ahmadu Bello Way in Mubi. The attack was followed by multiple explosions and sporadic gunfire, which started at about 7.30 p.m. and lasted throughout the night in various parts of the town.

The witnesses said that some of the gunmen were riding in a car while others were on motorcycles.
One of the witnessed, Malam Bala Muhammad, told reporters that, the gunmen, riding in a car detonated an explosive device and opened fire on the moving military patrol vehicle.

He said that the soldiers, who were under heavy gun attack, responded to the fire in self-defence, adding that one soldier was killed and four others wounded in the surprise attack.

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Tension in Jos as death toll rises to 19

The death toll from Sunday’s suicide bomb attack on St Finbarr’s Catholic Church, Jos and the ensuing reprisals rose to 19 yesterday as more corpses were taken to hospitals.

This came as tension enveloped parts of the city following renewed hostilities between Christian and Muslim youths on revenge mission over reprisal killings that started since Sunday. There were unconfirmed reports of more silent killings in various parts of the city..

Many residents in Tinna Junction, Fillin Ball and Duala areas had to run for cover as security men shot into the air to disperse scores of youths from both sides who were advancing towards each other for a showdown.

While a source said the fresh tension followed the disappearance of some people suspected to have been killed by one of the sides, another version said a bus conductor was attacked in a part of the town and when the driver who escaped with injuries reported to his people, they mobilized for a confrontation.

Jonathan begs govs to back Tukur

President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday begged governors from the North-East to back his candidate to be the new chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party. A source in government told THE PUNCH that the President did so at a meeting held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday.

Presidential aides have said that the President does not have a candidate among  the aspirants for the position, but there are speculations that he is backing Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

Although the party has zoned the position to the North-East, efforts to make the zone present a consensus candidate have failed to yield fruits.

Afghanistan militants 'attack Kandahar killings site'

Militants in Afghanistan have launched an attack on a government delegation visiting the site where a US soldier killed 16 civilians.

Two of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brothers and several top security officials were in the delegation in Panjwai in Kandahar province.
One Afghan soldier was killed and three other people injured but the delegation is heading back to Kandahar city.

The US soldier said to have carried out Sunday's attacks is under arrest. The unnamed 38-year-old staff sergeant is being held at an undisclosed location.

NECO vows not to lower standards

National Examinations Council, NECO, has pledged that it will not lower its standard in a bid to be patronised by eligible students.

Registrar/Executive of the Council, Professor Promise Okpala who made this known while answering questions from reporters in Minna, capital of Niger State also denied that there was rivalry between NECO and the National Business and Technical Examination Board, NABTEB, as both examination bodies like others were championing the same cause of raising standard of education in the country.

Okpala however, said that NECO had become more acceptable by students and higher institutions within and outside the country because of its high standard and zero tolerance for examination fraud.

He pointed out that the problems of examination leakage, impersonation, certificate racketeering among others have been reduced to the barest minimum,thereby making it easy for the certificate to be generally acceptable.

50 women, children massacred in Syria’s Homs

Nearly 50 women and children were found with their throats cut or bearing stab wounds in Syria’s Homs, prompting hundreds of families to flee the restive city, the opposition and activists said on Monday.
Hadi Abdallah, a Syrian activist in the central city, told AFP the bodies of 26 children and 21 women were discovered in the Karm el-Zaytoun and Al-Adawiyeh neighbourhoods of the besieged central city.

“Some of the children had been hit with blunt objects on their head, one little girl was mutilated and some women were raped before being killed,” he said, adding that most victims had been stabbed to death or had their throats cut.


Activists posted videos online showing graphic images of charred bodies and children with mutilated and bloodied faces.

Syrian state television attributed the killings to “armed terrorist gangs”, saying they had kidnapped residents of Homs, killed them and then made video footage of the bodies in an attempt to discredit Syrian forces.