Before now I did not believe that I will have any cause to eat on the same table with any Arsenal fan not to talk about their coach, Arsene Wenger, until I read that masterpiece of his opinion after the attack on the Togolese National team.

Let me quickly say that as a member of the CAF delegation to the Nations Cup i am restricted to the views i can make concerning the competition, especially on sensitive issues like this. However, i want to acknowledge the fact that this topic has since been elevated to the status of world discourse, hence my decision to also contribute an individual opinion.

For the benefit of those who continue to wonder how the Togolese team decided to go to Angola by bus, let me explain that they were training in nearby Congo and found it very convenient to just drive down to their centre in Cabinda, some few hours away.

Already there has been so much rumours and half truths concerning this issue, the last being that CAF has been insensitive to their plight, was angry that Togo withdrew and was going to sanction them.

Let me put it on record that immediately the news of the incident got to CAF, that evening, an emergency executive committee meeting was called after which President Hayatou and his colleagues got into the next available plane, destination Cabinda where the CAF president regretted the dastardly act and sympathised with the Togolese delegation. The Caf President was to say later that he would have wished for Togo to stay, especially when the players decided to play in honour of the dead, but that since the government of Togo had taken a political decision, he was in sympathy with them.

CAF then instructed that a minute's silence in honour of the dead must be observed in all the first round matches, in all the four centres of the competition.

Before then the Angolan government had condemned the act in strong terms and promised to beef up security, yet pockets of views were ventilated especially regarding the postponement of the competition, and this is where Arsene Wenger comes in.

I do not have anything to do with those European coaches who thought the best way to approach the issue was to order their players to come back home. Arsene Wenger's Arsenal enjoys a lot of African patronage and he did not hesitate to say he will be the last to ask his player to come back. Most importantly, he was categorical in saying that we cannot afford to give in to terrorists.

Those who planned and perpetrated this act would have popped champagne on hearing that for one reason or the other the competition had been called off. The African football family, strengthened by the Angolan government's decision to beef up security then resolved to go ahead and shame the terrorists.

Then comes the ripple effect, that in which mischievously, the World Cup in South Africa was suddenly linked to the situation in Angola. Well i will not do Danny Jordans work for him, but i am happy that he left Angola to address a press conference allaying all fears as regards the first world cup on African soil. But how long are we going to be doing this? How long are we going to tell the world that Africa is not different from the rest of the world where crime has not been eradicated?

I may not waste my readers' time trying to chronicle instances when the sporting world rose up against terrorism and triumphed, the most memorable being the Munich Olympic invasion when eleven Israeli athletes were murdered and the Games still went on.

According to Arsene Wenger, should we bow to the slightest provocation from the terrorists and those of like minds, then no major event will be held in the world. Today, the nations cup, the greatest sporting event in this continent is on, and with it some pleasant surprises like the humiliation of world cup qualifiers Algeria by distant outsiders Malawi, the emphatic victory of Egypt over Nigeria and the shock Gabon gave to Cameroun.

That for me is the beauty of the round leather game, one i would rather talk about, as i find it nearly impossible to predict anymore who will win this competition, because even as NFF secretary general Bolaji will tell you, you can only write off the Super Eagles at your own peril.