Daily Independent Online.
*
Tuesday, June 22, 2004.
NFA denies Okocha’s story
Orkula Shaagee
Correspondent, Abuja
Following
yesterday’s media reports that Super Eagles’ captain Austin Okocha
has accused the Nigeria Football Association of abandoning him for the World
Cup qualifier against Angola, the football house says it did not abandon him or
any other player for the Luanda soccer showdown.
In the interview,
published in most of the national dailies, Okocha alleged that he arrived
Nigeria on Wednesday but there was no NFA Protocol Officer to receive him, nor
was there arrangement made for him to travel to Angola.
But in a statement
by the NFA Public Relations Officer, Samuel Kaalu, the association says,
“contrary to Okocha’s claims, our protocol officer in Lagos, Mr.
Chidi Ngoka had been keeping vigil at the Murtala International Airport to
receive the National Team Captain who did not arrive on the flight he informed
he would arrive on.
“At the NFA
secretariat in Abuja, the Secretary General of the NFA, Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi,
worked the phones frantically in a bid to contact Okocha to ascertain if there
was any change in his travel plans to Nigeria”. He maintained that as at
Wednesday evening, the Secretary General was still hoping that Okocha would
arrive the country for both of them to travel to Angola on Thursday morning,
which turned out to be fruitless, adding that it was therefore puzzling to
learn that the National Team Captain accused the NFA Scribe of refusing to pick
his calls.
Kaalu stated that,
whereas the NFA would not want to join issues in public with its players,
particularly Okocha whose contributions to the national team has not been in
doubt, he said the NFA deems it appropriate to clarify the issue for the benefit
of all stakeholders.
He concluded that
the current leadership of the nation’s football ruling body places great
emphasis on a harmonious working relationship with the country’s players
and would continue to do all within its powers to promote peace between the two
parties.
