A former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Sports, Godfrey Gaiya, has said that weekend’s resignation of Dream Team V1 coach Samson Siasia was an indication that the Amaju Pinnick led board of the NFF cannot manage the country’s national teams.
Gaiya, who stated this in an interview on Saturday, blamed the leadership style of the federation for recent resignations in the nation’s football.
“Siasia is not the first person to resign; Sunday Oliseh also resigned his appointment. Stephen Keshi also resigned and if you recall, my committee had to beg Keshi not to resign after winning the AFCON 2013; so, it is a very bad omen.
“It is disastrous and an indication that our football house cannot manage even the coaches of the national team because there is no coach that has an enabling environment to work that will want to resign. It is the system that has made Siasia to do what he has done; he has sacrificed for this nation saeveral times and he led Nigeria to the only medal we won at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
“For him to resign after winning that only medal tells you about the NFF and football administration and the insincerity of those in power,” Gaiya said.
The former House of Reps member regretted that the attitude of NFF towards the plights of players and coaches in the country, noting that its leadership might have lost focus.
Gaiya wondered why the NFF should spend millions of naira to host the FIFA President Gianni Infantino in a five star hotel with its players and coaches living in penury.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Siasia, who led the Dream Team VI to win Nigeria’s only medal (Bronze) at the Rio Olympics, cited “a disrespectful football system” as reason for his action.
Siasia said that he decided to quit his job after a turbulent and incredible outing in Brazil which the sports authorities in the country never appreciated.
According to him, he has reached a point where he has to say enough is enough considering that he has gone about five months without salary.
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