Government intervenes to settle bonus As NFF Abandons Super Eagles

Following the rifts that ensued over the refusal of the Super Eagles,to accept the $2,500 match bonus for the draw against Namibia, Allsports understands that the team was abandoned in Namibia by the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF).

It is understood that the Super Eagles refused to turn up at the airport,where they would have connected a flight to Johannesburg,South Africa and connect another flight to Brazil for the FIFA Confederations Cup,thereby missing an opportunity of travelling on Thursday.

We exclusively brought a story last week of the row between the Super Eagles players and the NFF following the slashing of their match bonuses into two.

President of the NFF,Aminu Maigari met with the team on Wednesday night in Windhoek after the 1-1 draw with Namibia,to explain to them that they will can no longer continue paying them the  $10,000 for every win,following a paucity of funds.

There are also other reports, that the Super Eagles players are disgruntled with the manner,the NFF laid off some members of the technical staff,especially ex-international,Sylvanus Okpala,who assisted coach Stephen Keshi at the Nations Cup.

The NFF refused to meet with the players’ demands and said that it was the $2,500 or nothing.

And after the team refused to show up at the airport,the officials left them and departed for Brazil.

The Namibian Football Federation confirming that the Super Eagles are still in the country said on Thursday was quoted on BBC Sport as saying : “Their officials(NFF) departed this morning(Wednesday) but the players and technical staff are still here. There’s no indication they are leaving.”

With all the storm that ensued from the match bonus row,it is understood that the Federal Government of Nigeria and also world football governing body,FIFA,intervened in the matter and that the Super Eagles will now depart for Brazil on Saturday.

Nigeria’s first game is on Monday in Belo Horizonte against Tahiti,one wonders how the team will fare following this unnecessary problems that could have been avoided.