Flying Eagle's coach, John Obuh
The
last coach of the Nigeria U-20 team John Obuh has stunned his former
employers the Nigeria Football Federation with a N28m demand to clear
the total debt owed him by the FA over the years. The coach who took the
Flying Eagles to the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey made the demand
last week when the NFF members and the coaches met with the Director
General of the National Sports Commission, Mr.
Gbenga Elegbeleye, in
Abuja.
The meeting which was held at the
instance of the Minister of Sports Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi also had Super
Eagles coach Stephen Keshi attending as the ministry sought to
understand why the country performed below expectations in Turkey and at
the Confederations Cup in Brazil.
A person who had details of the meeting
told our correspondent that the NFF members were shocked and embarrassed
at the way Obuh presented his case before the NSC officials. The former
Kwara United coach who is said to have spoken for nearly an hour gave
several reasons why the Flying Eagles could not got beyond the second
while heaping the blame on NFF.
The official who pleaded anonymity
because he was not authorised to speak to the media on the matter said,
“Obuh told Elegbeleye that the NFF members were not there for him at the
time he needed them. He said that they changed his assistants without
his input. According to him they removed the assistant that would have
been of great help in Turkey for me.
“The peak of his talk was demanding the
settlement of his outstanding salaries and allowances which he put the
total figure at N28m to the surprise of the NFF team led by Alhaji Aminu
Maigari.”
Before the meeting, the NFF had said that they had accepted the resignation of Obuh as coach of Nigeria U-20 team.
“We have accepted the resignation of
John Obuh, but he is not the only one going,” said chairman of the
technical committee Chris Green. “We have relieved all members of the
technical crew of their jobs.”
Obuh had been in charge of the U-20s
since he led the U-17 team to reach the final of the 2009 FIFA U17 World
Cup, which Nigeria hosted.
An official of the FA said they were yet
to understand how Obuh arrived at the figure while expressing their
disappointment at “a coach they gave very good support throughout the
preparations for the FIFA event.”
He alleged that the U-20 put very
personal interest to play in the selection of the team to the detriment
of the country. That attitude he said caused the team’s failure.
Elegbeleye who was also left speeches at
the statement asked Obuh to put all his grievances into writing and
submit to the NSC through the NFF.
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