The ‘Super Eagles’ were supposed to leave Windhoek’s Hosea Kutako International Airport at 11 am on Thursday morning, following their World Cup qualifying match against Namibia the previous evening, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
Information was hard to come by as the team coach Stephen Keshi was locked up in a meeting at the Windhoek Country Club, while some of the players who were milling around the hotel’s foyer refused to comment.
According to a source, however, the issue had been building up since June 5 when Nigeria beat Kenya in Nairobi. According to the source, the players had been promised US$10 000 each for a win, but after the match they were told to accept US$5 000 each.
The players refused, and even threatened not to play against Namibia, but Keshi managed to convince them to play.
According to the source, the players took a stand as a matter of principle, after the Nigerian Sports Ministry had already forwarded the funds to the Nigerian Football Federation.
After Wednesday night’s match, the traveling officials of the Nigerian Football Federation departed for Johannesburg early on Thursday morning.
The players however refused to leave the hotel and some of the senior players have since footed the bill for their team mates to remain at the Windhoek Country Club.
The Nigerian team is due to compete in the FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil which starts on Saturday, June 15. According to FIFA regulations teams have to be present at least two days before the start of a match, but with Nigeria’s first match scheduled for Monday, June 17, they can still make it in time.
If Nigeria fail to make it to Brazil in time they could be banned from FIFA competitions, including the current 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign where they are near certainties to qualify from the African Group F. If that happens, they will be replaced by second-placed Malawi for the next round of qualifiers.
Source: Namibia Sport
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