Ekevwo triumphed in a time of 9.96sec at the Moroccan capital's Olympic Stadium in the Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex.

He edged Ivory Coast's Arthur Cissé by 0.01 seconds, while fellow Nigerian Usheoritse Itsekiri finished third in 10.02.

La Tou had earlier taken the women's crown in 11.09, with Gambia's Gina Bass second in 11.13 and Egypt's Basant Hemida third in 11.31.

Victory for Ekevwo secured Nigeria one of their two athletics gold medals today.

The other came courtesy of Chukwuebuka Enekwechi in the men's shot put with a throw of 21.48m, a new Games record.

Egyptian Mohamed Khalifa was runner-up with 20.85m, while compatriot Mostafa Hassan came third with 20.74m.

There were also two athletics gold medals for Burkina Faso and Ethiopia.

Burkina Faso's came from Hugues Fabrice Zango in the men's triple jump, with a leap of 16.88m, and Laetitia Kimalou Bambara in the women's hammer, throwing 65.28m.

Hirut Meshesha won the women's 800m final for Ethiopa in 2:03.16, prior to compatriot Berehanu Wendemu Tsegu securing victory in the men's 10,000m in 27:56.81.

Nigeria currently sit top of the athletics medal standings with three golds, three silvers and two bronzes.

There was also success for Nigeria in weightlifting, with Folaahade Rafiatu Lawal winning the women's 59 kilograms title with 210kg and Joy Ogbonne Eze taking the women's 64kg crown with 218kg.

Both athletes also topped their snatch and clean and jerk standings.

Egypt's Basma Ibrahim was the women's 59kg silver medallist, while Tunisia's Chaima Rahmouni claimed bronze with 195kg.

Finishing runner-up to Eze was Egypt's Esraa Ahmed with 209kg and third place went to fellow countrywoman Neama Said with 207kg.

The one other weightlifting gold medal went to Tunisia's Karem Ben Hnia, in the men's 73kg, with 333kg ahead of Egypt's Moustafa Ibrahim with 313kg and Algeria's Nafaa Sariak on 292kg.

Among the other sports in which medals were awarded was fencing, with mixed fortunes for Egypt and Tunisia.

Egypt's Alaaeldin Aboelkasem beat Tunisia's Mohamed Ayoub Ferjani 15-5 in the men's individual foil final before Tunisia's Sarra Besbes defeated Egypt's Sara Nounou in the women's individual épée final.

The men's individual foil bronze medallists were Egypt's Mohamed Ashour and Tunisia's Mohamed Samandi.

Rounding off the women's individual épée podium were Egypt's Nardin Ehab and Senegal's Salimata Sabaly.

The women's individual all-around gymnastics event was also decided, with Farah Hussein leading an Egyptian one-two-three finish with 51.050 points.

Farah Salem ranked second with 48.000 points, while Mandy Mohamed came third with 47.650.

Egypt duly clinched the women's team title on 149.70 points, with Algeria second on 133.40 and Nigeria third with 72.600.

Action in Rabat continues tomorrow.