Super Eagles’ 2017 Nations Cup failure cause of NFF crisis, says Obuh

Former Flying Eagles’ Coach, John Obuh, believes the current leadership crisis in Nigerian football is a fall out of the country’s failure to qualify for the 2017 African Nations Cup scheduled for Gabon.

The coach also believes the Super Eagles would have qualified for the competition and also excelled in other major championships over the years if the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) gave the coaches appointed on different occasions to handle the team enough time to build a squad that will stand the test of time.

Lamenting that the continuous call for Super Eagles coaches’ sack any time the team failed to win a tournament has started affecting the NFF, Obuh said Nigerian football lovers were impatient and unrealistic in their expectations, just as he accused the media of building fans’ expectations even when the situation called for caution.

Obuh called on football stakeholders to come together to settle the NFF crisis to avoid FIFA sanctions on Nigeria.

“The present crises in the NFF is as a result of the Eagles’ ouster from the 2017 Nations Cup. When the Eagles returned from Egypt after the second leg of the Nations Cup qualifier, some people started calling for the resignation of the NFF president and I believe this brought about the leadership tussle.

“Nigerian football cannot develop under this kind of situation. Assuming Samson Siasia, Stephen Keshi and Sunday Oliseh were given enough time to build a team, I don’t think we will be facing this predicament of not qualifying for two Nations Cup. Nigerians and the media have roles to play in the Super Eagles reform because as stakeholders in football, they should not always call for the sack of a coach any time he fails to deliver,” he said.

Obuh opined that the delay in appointing a substantive coach for the Super Eagles would affect Nigeria’s preparations for the World Cup qualifiers.