The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Rio Olympic bronze winning team led by Chelsea star, Mikel Obi, are heading a collision course over the $390,000 donated to them by a Japanese fan.
On Saturday, the NFF issued a statement quoting President Amaju Pinnick as saying it was mischievous to say they planned to use the donation from the Japanese plastic surgeon Katsuya Takasu to offset mounting debts.
Rather, they insisted that they were merely conducting an integrity test on the donation and the donor.
The Japanese fan issued two Citibank cheques – $200,000 in favour of coach Samson Siasia and $190,000 in favour of Mikel.
“We have resolved that no matter what, we will not surrender this cash to the NFF, the team was quoted to have said.
“Mikel has insisted all of us will get our share of the money. That we should not mind what the people in the NFF are saying.
“He will make available this cash when he comes for next month’s AFCON qualifier against Tanzania in Uyo.”
A team meeting has already resolved that both players and officials will receive equal amount of the cash with Mikel himself agreeing to give part of his own share for the chief coach (Siasia) to get more than the rest of the squad.
It was further gathered that the sharing formula agreed was a flat rate for the 22 players (18 accredited players and four alternate players) and 10 officials.
Japanese plastic surgeon, Takasu had travel from Tokyo to Brazil to watch Nigeria beat Honduras 3-2 to win the bronze on Saturday.
“I had travelled from Tokyo prepared to reward them anyway, and to watch them win the bronze inside the stadium was very fulfilling,” he said.
“This team showed resilience and fought the hardest to achieve success, despite all their problems – some people would have given up but they didn’t.”
“In everything we must always let people understand that they are appreciated and not just in football but generally in life,” said Takasu.
Meanwhile, Mikel took to Twitter to show off his Olympic bronze medal and thanked everyone who helped his ‘dream come true.’
The Nigeria midfielder featured in his side’s 3-2 victory over Honduras to seal third place and win a medal.
Mikel will now return to Chelsea and hope to force his way into Antonio Conte’s starting line-up.
The midfielder played a crucial part in two of Nigeria’s goals against Honduras
The midfielder played a crucial part in two of Nigeria’s goals against Honduras
The Chelsea man was at the heart of the action for Nigeria as his cross was turned in by Sadiq Umar to put the African side one up.
He then saw his shot cannon off Honduras keeper Luis Lopez for Umar to follow up and slot in the rebound.
Nigeria took three senior players to Rio, of which Mikel was one. The football tournament at the Olympics is played among under-23 teams so the selection of older leaders is crucial.
The Super Eagles narrowly avoided disaster in their first match as the team landed in Manaus six hours before kick-off having been stranded in Atlanta.
The team battled fatigue to run out 5-4 winners against Japan and continued their fine showing to win a bronze medal.
Mikel will now be returning to Stanford Bridge under new manager Antonio Conte and be seeking to continue their unbeaten start to the Premier League campaign.
