Nigeria 2-0 Niger

Yakubu made a winning return to the Super Eagles

Goals from two of Nigeria's foreign-based stars helped the Super Ealges take a comfortable win over neighbours Niger in Abuja in Group Two of the African Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Yakubu Aiyegbeni, who plays his club football with English Premiership side Middlesbrough, opened the scoring when he struck in the 27th minute.

It was the striker's first appearance for his country since September last year, when he fell out with coach Austin Eguavoen.

And Udinese midfielder Christian Obodo made sure of the points midway through the second half, pouncing in the 60th minute.

The result is a positive start to the Nations Cup campaign for Nigeria, who missed out on the 2006 World Cup following a number of surprising reverses in qualifying.

However, Uganda's 3-0 win over Lesotho earlier in the day means Nigeria are only second in the group after the opening round of matches.