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Stephen Keshi Photo Credit: www.zhurnal.mk

Super Eagles Coach, Stephen Keshi has been formerly accused by an investigative panel set up by the Sports minister, Bolaji Abdullahi to ascertain why the players protested in Namibia on the eve of the Confederations Cup for match bonus. The team refused to travel to Brazil for the Confederations Cup after their World Cup qualifier in Windhoek, protesting the slashing of their match bonus by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). Stephen Keshi and his assistants have been accused of having pecuniary and vested interests. Chairman of the committee, Olusegun Adeniyi, speaking during the presentation of their report to the Minister said the Super Eagles players acted in a shameful manner. He also accused Keshi of doing nothing to avert the problem. Adeniyi revealed that some of the key players in the squad, John Obi Mikel, Vincent Enyeama and Austin Ejide refused to return their calls when attempts were made to contact them. “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,” Adeniyi added. The panel did not exonerate the NFF, adding that their inability to properly convey the changes in the slashing of the bonus fuelled the crises. Adeniyi further added that the problem got to that level because of the mutual distrust between the NFF and the Super Eagles, lack of discipline from the players as well as lack of leadership from those in charge of administration at the critical time. The Sports Minister assured that the recommendations in the report would be fully implemented and sent to President Goodluck Jonathan because of the seriousness attached to it.

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This article was first published on 23rd August 2013

arinzeude

Arinze Ude is a PhD Student at the University of the West of England Bristol, UK, where he's exploring on the mechanisms of donor cell leukaemia. He shares his deep thoughts on his blog and the Naked Convos. He is keen to promote personal development of the Nigerian youth via thought-provoking articles.