‘NFF wants to use Technical Committee as scapegoat’

An influential member of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Technical Committee has cried out that the football federation wants to use the Committee as a scapegoat for the disappointing performances of the Super Eagles in their last two World Cup qualifiers.

It will be recalled that after the dismal outing of the Super Eagles under Coach Finidi George, the NFF announced plans to hire a foreign technical adviser for the national team and rejig its Technical Committee.

However, the member of the committee who spoke to Daily Trust on condition of anonymity said the NFF is barking at the wrong tree after politicising the appointment of Super Eagles coach.

“The NFF is being dishonest and diversionary. They are playing politics with the passion of millions of Nigerians. The Technical Committee is not responsible for the failure of the Super Eagles.

• Provost proposes solution to boost low science course enrolment
• Climate Change: Tinubu’s appointment raises legal, implementation concerns

“First, we recommended a foreign coach to be assisted by Finidi but the NFF returned the list to us and said the government had directed that it must be an indigenous coach.

“There was pressure on us to recommend Emmanuel Amuneke but we stuck to our guns and recommended Finidi because he was already in the system and NFF claimed that the government was opposed to foreign coaches.

“NFF is trying to give the Technical Committee a bad name but the question they must answer sincerely is why did they reject the same foreign coach they are now going for? Where are they going to get money now to pay for his services? And when did the Federal Government say no to foreign coaches for the Super Eagles?

“I want Nigerians to know that it was unnecessary political interference and not the Technical Committee that robbed us of six points in the World Cup qualifiers,” he said.

The Committee member also said if the NFF allows too much interference in its affairs by the Minister of Sports, it will soon incur the wrath of the world football governing body, FIFA.