Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Nigerian referees excluded from AFCON

Since the 2008 AFCON tournament held in Ghana, CAF has failed to list a Nigerian centre referee.

• December 17, 2021
Nigeria refrees
Nigeria refrees

The Confederation of African Football has excluded Nigerian centre referees from the list of officiating referees at the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cameroon.

A list of officiating referees for the 2022 African Cup of Nations which was released shows only one Nigerian Samuel Pwadutakam as an assistant referee.

Since the 2008 AFCON tournament held in Ghana, CAF has failed to list a Nigerian centre referee.

Reacting to the exclusion of Nigerian referees in the AFCON list of officiating centre referees, the former chairman of Nigerian Referees Association, Linus Mba said “I am worried and I’ve been asking what can be done to have a full complement of Nigerian officials at the AFCON. Going to the AFCON is not a cup of tea.”

“The onus is on our referees to work hard. I also think in the future, as long as we don’t nominate people because of politics, we will get there soon. But if politics continues to be involved, we’ll continue to have problems,” he submitted.

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Delta, Edo and Ondo governors

Education

Delta, Edo, Ondo: ASUU threatens indefinite strike over unpaid allowances

ASUU coordinator described the continued non-implementation of the agreement as “provocative and unjust”.

ECOWAS court

Rights

ECOWAS court to go fully digital by 2030

President of the court, Justice Ricardo Gonçalves, announced this at the formal unveiling of the court’s Electronic Case Management System on Monday, in Abuja.

Wike inspecting road construction

Abuja

Abuja traders seek temporary access roads amid construction challenges

“Before, I sold up to 40 phones in a day, but now there are days I sell only two. It has become very difficult because customers cannot access the market easily,” said a trader.

Julio Enciso

Sport

2026 World Cup: Paraguay knock out Germany, advance to round of 16

Paraguay will face the winner of Tuesday’s round-of-32 tie between France and Sweden in New Jersey for a place in the quarter-finals.

NEC, EFCC, CBN, NPF

Anti-Corruption

Constitutional protection urged for police, INEC, EFCC, CBN to check corrupt president, governors

“These institutions should enjoy security of tenure; their funding should be a direct charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund,” said Mr Agbakoba.

Current governors

Politics

Nigeria should not repeat SIEC mistake, Agbakoba warns against gifting governors unlimited police power

Mr Agbakoba expressed concern that state police may go the way of State Independent Electoral Commissions and local governments.