Cote d'Ivoire bagged a third Africa Cup of Nations crown with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Nigeria in the final.
Samuel Chukwueze replaced Moses Simon in the Super Eagles attack, while the Elephants welcomed back Serge Aurier, who captained the side.
As expected, not a lot separated the two teams in the earlier exchanges, with the Elephants backed by a strong home crowd in the stands whilst the Super Eagles remained calm all-round.
Bundesliga-based striker Sebastien Haller had a big chance to put the hosts ahead after 10 minutes through a floated ball from the wings, but he misjudged the flight of the ball and squandered the chance.
A sharp piece of goalkeeping from Stanley Nwabali later on denied the Elephants yet again as he rushed off his line to narrow Simon Adingra's path towards goal.
Nigeria, though, got ahead against the run of play after Williams Troost-Ekong nodded in a delightful delivery with a towering header.
The Super Eagles preferred to make no alterations off the bench before the second half and so, too, did the tournament hosts.
The Elephants pushed for a quick response in the second half through a low-range drive from Max Gradel, but the Nigerians held the lines to court the danger.
However, the pressure paid off 12 minutes into the second stanza after the energetic Adingra found space to set Franck Kessie in to go clear and get the better of Nwabali.
With the tempo relatively balanced, the Elephants livened up the crowd when Haller beat Troost-Ekong to an improvised delivery and finished remarkably past Nwabali.
The Super Eagles failed to engineer a response as the clock began to wind down and left the Elephants to victory and the AFCON title.
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