Pinnick defends NFF over unpaid Eagles entitlements, admits to forcing Musa on Rohr

NIGERIA Football Federation President Amaju Pinnick has confirmed that the body is owing players and officials of the Super Eagles some of their entitlements.

In an interview with Arise News, a Nigerian cable news channel, Pinnick admitted that the players had not been paid their win bonuses for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers which started in 2019 and ended in March.

He however denied claims that the withdrawal of several players from the friendly games against Cameroon in Austria was in protest of the owed bonuses.

He insisted that the players who pulled out, including Victor Osimhen, Simy Nwankwo and Joe Aribo, are genuinely injured.

Head coach Gernot Rohr has reportedly not been paid for six months, while goalkeeper trainer Alloy Agu is owed 22 months in allowances.

Pinnick insisted that no Super Eagles player survives solely on national team bonuses, and they stand to gain much more that money by featuring for the national team.

“The national team adds value to players and players didn’t back out because of unpaid bonuses,” Pinnick told Arise News.

“A lot of circumstances in the last two years made us not to meet up with our obligations to the players and team officials.”

In a bizarre response, the NFF boss suggested that the players should not complain because they travel in style and comfort to prosecute their matches.

“Since I came in, players fly on chartered flights to all our games,” he offered.

“They stay in the best hotels. The players understand that featuring for the country adds value.”

Pinnick also admitted that he forced Ahmed Musa on Rohr for the final round of qualifiers for the Russia 2018 World Cup.

The Super Eagles captain was struggling for game time at Leicester City back then and Rohr dropped him for his squad for the qualifiers, but Pinnick intervened.

Musa went on to score two goals at the World Cup in Russia and Pinnick felt vindicated.

“I said to Rohr ‘There are some players who are club players and players who are both club and national team players. For the first time I’m going to impose Ahmed Musa on you’,” Pinnick explained.

“We argued about it but ultimately I am the president. Rohr agreed and what happened in Russia? Musa scored two beautiful goals. Ahmed Musa came back to Kano Pillars to play because the national team adds calue to the players.”

Musa’s involvement in the national team also raised some dust recently.

He had been unattached since October but he was included in the two qualifiers against Sierra Leone last November and the two against Benin Republic and Lesotho in March.

He rejoined Kano Pillars in May after being without a club for six months.