Admin l Wednesday, September 06, 2017
ABUJA, Nigeria – The Nigerian Football Federation, NFF has proved to be false media reports indicating that Super Eagles players snubbed NFF President, Amaju Pinnick in Yaounde, Cameroon.
The NFF said the truth is that by his position, the NFF President is father to players of all the National Teams.
“In reality, the present crop of players in the Super Eagles sees and takes Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick as a big brother, and holds him in very high esteem”, the statement added.
See full statement below:
The attention of the Nigeria Football Federation has been drawn to a video being circulated by some persons who claim the said slide showed a couple of players of the Super Eagles refusing to shake hands with NFF President Amaju Pinnick as the Nigerian delegation arrived Yaounde, Cameroon on Sunday, 3rd September 2017 for a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Cameroon.
The truth is that by his position, the NFF President is father to players of all the National Teams. In reality, the present crop of players in the Super Eagles sees and takes Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick as a big brother, and holds him in very high esteem.
Nothing has happened to change that perception. The NFF President came down from the Bombadier CRJ 1000 jet on landing and opted to stay by the aircraft to appreciate the players and officials on arrival. The said players, and even goalkeepers’ trainer Alloy Agu, obviously did not know that the NFF President, having flown with the delegation on the same aircraft, would still be waiting by the aircraft to shake hands with them.
Nothing was planned. He stood there simply appreciating the troops that had decimated African champions Cameroon in Uyo and were determined to do a double over the Cameroonians in Yaounde.
The said players, Ahmed Musa and Victor Moses, (and Alloy Agu) NEVER showed disrespect to the NFF President, as can be attested to by the comments of Moses and Musa in the aftermath.
Perhaps, the objective of the said video was to create disaffection between the NFF President and the said players, but this fell flat on its face as the players afterwards met with the NFF President and laughed the whole thing off as ridiculous.
As the NFF and the Super Eagles unite to stay on the same page and prepare adequately for the MUST-WIN 2018 World Cup qualifying match against Zambia in Uyo next month, we appeal to all genuine stakeholders of Nigerian Football and friends of Nigeria elsewhere to focus on the many positives from the qualifying campaign so far, encourage both the Federation and the team to continue to give its best and appreciate that together, each will always achieve more. No scheme fashioned by anyone can bring schisms within the Super Eagles camp or between the NFF and the squad.
