Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi
| credits: File copy
| credits: File copy
The
committee set up by the Minister of Sports Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi to
investigate the bonus disagreement in Windhoek, Namibia between the
Super Eagles and the Nigeria Football Federation has blamed the players;
their coach Stephen Keshi and the NFF officials.
The panel headed by a former Presidential spokesman and Chairman of Thisday
Editorial Board, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, was inaugurated on July 11 by
Abdulahi, to investigate the circumstances that made the players to
refuse to board a flight out of Windhoek to Sao Paulo for the FIFA
Confederations Cup in Brazil in June. The strike action made the Eagles
to arrive in Brazil late.
Adeniyi who spoke during the
presentation of the report to the minister in Abuja on Thursday said the
players humiliated the nation by their action. He said the Eagles
failed to weigh the implication of their action given the fact they
were elaborately received by the Federal Government and Nigerians
generally three months earlier for winning the Africa Cup of Nations in
South Africa.
The check list proved that the Eagles
and their technical crew were paid about N207m as match-win bonuses up
to the semi final stage in South Africa 2013.
Adeniyi told the gathering that the
technical crew led by Keshi failed to stop the strike, “because of their
pecuniary and vested interests.”
He blamed federation officials for not
formally conveying the decisions to cut the bonuses to the players
before the crises reached the peak in Namibia after a World Cup
qualifying match. Adeniyi said the bonus problem degenerated because of
mutual distrust by the parties, lack of discipline by the players as
well as lack of leadership by those in charge of administration at the
critical time.
Abdulahi said that the recommendations
would be implemented fully while thanking the panel for the perspectives
and detailed efforts in producing a code of conduct for the Eagles. The
minister added that the report would be sent to President Goodluck
Jonathan because of the seriousness accorded it.
Adeniyi said the committee expanded its
scope of reference by speaking with some of the players and officials
including the Eagles team Secretary, Dayo Achor. He confirmed The PUNCH
earlier report that Mikel Obi, Austin Ejide and Vincent Enyeama snubbed
the panel. He said that they, however, spoke with six home-based Eagles
and national captain Joseph Yobo, who in his capacity got in touch with
Mikel, Ejide and Enyeama.
Adeniyi added, “Their refusal to respond
to our telephone calls did not in any way vitiate our findings because
we spoke at length with Yobo to get an idea of what went wrong.”
Yobo, incidentally, was not in Namibia during the strike as he has not featured for the Eagles since February.
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