NFF Explains Absence of Finidi, Shorunmu from Super Eagles AFCON Qualifiers Camp

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has opened up on why Finidi George and Ike Shorunmu will not be with the Super Eagles coaching crew for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Guinea-Bissau.

In a statement released, Monday, the Nigeria FA denied sacking the duo, but explained they were omitted from the squad for a number of reasons.

Paucity of funds, a pre-arranged rotation policy and a possible aversion to authority were some of the reasons given in the press release.

The statement reads:

As part of cost-cutting measures instituted at the beginning of the new administration, we established a rotation policy among the assistant coaches, based on the high number, which was agreed with all of them.

The last time that the team had a programme, Mr. Finidi George was the person who travelled for the friendly match in Portugal. This rotation policy is only for matches. When there is a tournament, all of them will be with the team.

He knew at that time that the next trip would be that of Mr. Usman Abdallah. Abdallah is simply taking his turn to be in the camp for the program of Super Eagles Vs Djurtus of Guinea Bissau, and Mr. George will be around for the next program.

The NFF further revealed that Ike Shorounmun rejected the invitation to be in camp for the game against Guinea Bissau which necessitated the invitation of Tunji Baruwa to join the Super Eagles from U-20 team.

The case of goalkeepers’ trainer, Ike Shorounmu is somewhat peculiar, as the former Nigeria goalkeeper showed a clear lack of desire to be in camp for the matches against Guinea Bissau.

We do not want to go into any details because we have the utmost respect for all our ex-internationals, including Mr. Shorounmu. It was only when we got the clear signal that he was unwilling to come, and the Head Coach was in a quandary, that he (Coach Peseiro) requested for the services of Olatunji Baruwa, who he had seen at work during the U20 AFCON in Egypt, to help do the work of training the goalkeepers.