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‘Ebola can’t stop Super Eagles’ friendly with DR Congo’ – Pinnick

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amaju pinnick

President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mr. Amaju Pinnick, has confirmed that the international friendly between the Super Eagles and DR Congo will go on as planned.

The Nigerian national team are scheduled to host DR Congo in a pre-World Cup friendly in Port Harcourt on May 28 – a game designed to canvass support from Nigerians ahead on the FIFA 2018 World Cup in Russia

But following reports of outbreak of the Ebola virus in the Central African nation about a week ago, which led to speculations that the game will not hold for precautionary reasons.

Speaking as a guest on a television programme on Monday, Pinnick said that the outbreak is not an epidemic capable of stopping the game from going ahead.

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“We are in touch with the Congolese FA and we have been reliably informed that the Ebola outbreak is in a very remote part of the country, so there’s nothing to really fear,” the football chief said.

“Besides, about 98% of the Congolese players are based outside the country. They’re flying in to Nigeria and we have got them a chartered flight which will touch down in Port Harcourt at 6pm on the 25th of May, three days to the match.

“The aircraft will wait and take them back after the game. As a further precaution, we have written to the Ministry of Health to test them on arrival. We have really covered that and there’s nothing to be worried about,“ he stated.

The Eagles will play the Congolese at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt.

The team are billed to also play England in Wembley on June 2 and the Czech Republic on June 6 in Austria before jetting out to represent the nation in the World Cup finals in Russia.

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