Nigeria’s failure to qualify for a second consecutive FIFA World Cup has intensified calls for a change of leadership at the Nigeria Football Federation, with football stakeholders urging the current board to take responsibility and step aside as pressure mounts ahead of the federation’s next electoral cycle, according to PUNCH Sports Extra, ABNTV reports.
Former Nigerian international and 1996 Olympic gold medalist Abiodun Obafemi told PUNCH Sports Extra that he supports any measure capable of restoring sanity to Nigerian football, insisting the country cannot continue with the status quo and expect a different outcome.
“Honestly, I agree with any action that will bring good to the football house, even if it is an overhaul. Honestly, we just need a change. We cannot continue to do the same thing and expect different results,” Obafemi said.
“Last World Cup before this, we were not there. If you look at the caliber of players we had, we should be there. Even if it is two teams from Africa, Nigeria should be there. We are the number one football nation in Africa, and everyone knows the reason why we are struggling, and whatever measure that will bring us back, we should take it. We are losing the respect that we had; that fear factor most of these nations have when facing us is gone. Whatever will bring back those glory days, I am for it 100 percent.”
Also reacting, former Green Eagles captain and 1980 Africa Cup of Nations winner, Segun Odegbami, said the Super Eagles’ absence from the tournament reflected deep-rooted problems within the country’s football administration rather than a lack of talent.
“This is a very, very sad situation for us,” Odegbami said.
“There is no reason on earth that Nigeria should not have been one of 10 African countries that went to that World Cup. As Nigerians, we should be one of the top one or two, not outside the top 10. Nobody can justify that. To miss back-to-back World Cups is a sad commentary on the state of our football.”
The Nigerian football icon insisted those in charge of the game must accept responsibility for the country’s decline.
“We cannot put the blame at the feet of anybody else but the administration that is in charge,” he said.
“As a country, we need to look at that place. That is where the whole issue is. We are doing things that are not right, and we keep repeating them while expecting different results. It cannot happen.”
