Many of the officials seeking accreditation to take part in the Under-17 World Cup tournament in the Lagos center had to spend Friday night at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, journalists, security personnel and volunteers were among hundreds of officials who had been besieging the stadium for accreditation since Oct. 19, when the exercise opened officially in Lagos.

As they waited patiently for accreditation, the Chief of Security at the Lagos Sub-seat, Lateef Junaid, announced through Tayo Balogun, Venue Manager, Accreditation, that nobody would be allowed to remain at the complex beyond 5 a.m. on Saturday.

"FIFA's security instruction must be respected. Nobody must be allowed to stay in the complex beyond 5 a.m. If you do not have accreditation nobody will allow you to enter the stadium complex," said Junaid, a Deputy Commissioner of the Police.

Balogun's assurance that everybody would get accreditation for the tournament was temporarily threatened by a downpour which started around 2 a.m, forcing the organizers to switch off the generator.

However, the accreditation process commenced after the rain stopped and most of the officials had their photographs taken and were asked to report later for their accreditation cards.

Reacting to the experiences of the officials seeking accreditation for the tournament, some members of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) attributed the slow accreditation procedure to the slow nature of the server and scarcity of cards.

According to Amanze Uchegbulam, Chairman, LOC Lagos Sub-seat, the situation was not peculiar to the Lagos center alone.

2009-10-25 xinhuanet.com