Mikel Obi has opened up on his own nightmarish experience at the Olympics caused by corrupt football federation officials.
Mikel, who captained Nigeria to the 2018 World Cup and was capped at U17, U20 and U23 levels, led the country to win bronze at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
“When I represented my country(Nigeria) at the Olympics in Brazil, we had to fly. We waited from morning till night because there was no flight to take us to Brazil. There was no plane,” he revealed on his ObiOne Podcast.
“The FA didn’t want to pick up the tab, maybe the money was released, but the FA or whoever, refused to release the money. I had to pay for the flight to get us to Brazi (for the whole team).
“I sometimes had to stay at my hotel because the hotel provided for us was so bad that we couldn’t stay in it. I had to move to make sure the environment was more conducive for us to perform.”
He added: “These are the little things that discourage players, but the FA(NFF) need to get their acts right, they need to get the right people who will run the federation.
“We have all these “men” there, that know nothing about football, never played the game and don’t know what it takes for a footballer to perform and be successful.
“They are just there because they have been voted in and they have the power where they get the money from the government and don’t want to release it (they release maybe 10% and the rest is shared between them).
“That is what takes the beauty out of it, because, the players don’t get well looked after in terms of facilities, flights and hotels. And then the players suffer.
“That’s why I think the right people should be appointed.”
“These players who have played the game and shed their blood and sweat for their country should be appointed. The likes of Kanu, Okocha, they’ve earned the right to run football in Nigeria because they know what it means to represent the country,” he continued.
“A lot of changes need to be made, the corruption should be cut out.”
He was also asked if he could be an option to make things to work properly in Nigeria, and he answered: “We need a “team of right people”, not just (Jay Jay) Okocha, Mikel, but we need a team of right people.”
By Aboluwade God’s Treasure AGT
