February 26, 2013, Football legend Argentinian Diego Maradona
gestures during a press conference in Naples. CARLO HERMANN /
AFP
Tunisian former referee Ali Bin Nasser, who officiated
the 1986 World Cup quarter-final in which Diego Maradona scored his
famous double against England, hailed the Argentinian as a “genius”
following his death, aged 60, on Wednesday.
Bin Nasser admitted that he doubted the validity of Maradona’s
infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal, but said the football legend’s second
strike in the game was a “masterpiece”.
In the 51st minute of a politically-charged last-eight clash in
Mexico, four years after the Falklands War, Maradona outjumped
England goalkeeper Peter Shilton and punched the ball into the net
to give his country the lead.
“I didn’t see the hand, but I had a doubt,” Bin Nasser, the
first Tunisian to referee a World Cup quarter-final, told AFP.
“You can see the pictures — I stepped back to take the advice of
my assistant, Bulgarian (Bogdan) Dochev, and when he said it was
good, I gave the goal.”
The 76-year-old said he believed he was a go-to man for FIFA in
tough matches, and that world football’s governing body gave him a
high rating for his performance in the game.
“I had already refereed a match between the USSR and China in
1985, I was the man of difficult missions for FIFA,” Bin Nasser
said.
“FIFA gave me a 9.4 on this game, I did what I had to do, but
there was confusion — Dochev later indicated that he had seen two
arms, and he didn’t know if it was Shilton’s or Maradona’s.”
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
Argentina secured their place in the semi-finals of a tournament
they would go on to win when Maradona put them two goals ahead with
a strike later voted the ‘Goal of the Century’.
The then-Napoli star evaded six England players’ attempts to
either tackle or foul him during a mesmerising run from the halfway
line, before prodding into an empty net.
READ ALSO: Argentines Mourn Maradona, ‘The Most
Human Of gods’
“I was ready to whistle for a dangerous foul on Maradona,”
remembered Bin Nasser of a goal which proved to be the winner after
Gary Lineker pulled one back for England.
“I thought after 50 yards of effort they were going to bring him
down.
“I was proud to participate in that masterpiece.”
Maradona visited Bin Nasser 29 years later while shooting an
advertisers.com.ng in Tunisia, giving him a T-shirt
bearing the words “To my eternal friend Ali”.
“We had a good time, I told him that that day, it was not
Argentina who won, but him, Maradona.
“He was a genius, a football legend. As a referee, I did not
allow myself to close my eyes even for a second when following him,
because he was capable of anything.”
AFP
Read more https://swordpress.com.ng/2020/11/27/referee-who-missed-hand-of-god-hails-genius-maradona/
The Kingdom of Netherlands on Thursday officially presented a
smuggled Ife Terracotta antiquity dated to be at least 600 years
old to Nigeria.
The repatriated antiquity was presented to the Minister of
Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed at a ceremony held in
Abuja.
![image](/2020/10/NWLRland.jpg")
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema, Netherlands
Ambassador to Nigeria, Harry Van Dijk, Nigeria Charge de Affairs to
Netherlands, Kabiru Musa and the Director-General National
Commission for Museum and Monuments (NCMM) were present at the
event.
Receiving the repatriated object, the minister said it was
smuggled through the airport in Ghana before getting to Europe in
2019.
“The smuggler had obtained forged documents purported to be from
a former Director-General of the National Commission for Museums
and Monuments.
“The smuggler ultimately passed through the airport in Ghana
before getting to Europe in 2019.
“The Dutch Customs at Schiphol Airport suspected that the object
might be illicitly imported and alerted the antiquity protection
office known as the Inspectie, which is the Information and
Heritage Inspectorate of the Netherlands, to give an opinion.
“The Inspectie invited Nigeria to prove her case against the
suspected smuggler,’’ he said.
In proving the case, Mohammed said the NCMM acted swiftly by
dispatching its lawyer, Mr Babatunde Adebiyi, to present evidence
and argue for the return of the object.
He said Nigeria was successful in the case and the claim was
determined in its favour.
Mohammed said after all internal procedures, including the right
of appeal, were exhausted, the Government of the Netherlands handed
over the object to the Nigerian Embassy in Hague on Nov. 2.
He noted that with the repatriation of the “priceless and
timeless’’ artefact the federal government efforts at pursuing the
return of Nigerian antiquities had started yielding fruits.
The minister underscored the need for Nigeria to tap into
tourism and other fields, where Nigeria has comparative advantages,
in order to generate income for the nation and secure jobs for the
youth.
“One way of generating income for the country is if our cultural
properties are exhibited around the world to a fee-paying audience,
on the basis of proper agreement that acknowledges us as owners and
confers the right benefits on us.
“But this is not possible for as long as most of them adorn the
museums and private collections of others, who describe them as
their properties,’’ he said.
The minister reiterated Nigeria commitment to joint
international efforts to put a stop to illicit export and import of
cultural goods.
He said Netherland and Nigeria will make a joint presentation on
the repatriation to the UNESCO Secretariat in Paris, so that other
nations might take a cue from it in finding rapprochement and
common ground concerning the issue of return of antiquities.
On his part, Onyema said it is a happy day for Nigeria because
there are many Nigerian cultural assets around the world which have
become difficult to track.
He said some of the assets were taken out of the country for
over 100 years back and some more recently.
The minister said there is underground illegal market for
cultural asset which has made them difficult to identify, retrieve
and repatriate.
Onyema said the government is committed to the restitution of
all the nation’s cultural assets illegally taken and litter across
the globe
Musa said the repatriation was made possible in compliance with
the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Prevention of Illegal Trafficking
of Cultural Heritage which Nigeria and Netherlands are
signatories.
He said that the return of the smuggled artefact was significant
considering the fact that it coincided with 50 years-celebration of
the UNESCO Convention.