Osimhen’s Rant Was a Moment of Madness, Says Amaju Pinnick

Femi Solaja

Former Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President and a FIFA Council member, Amaju Pinnick has expressed his displeasure at last month’s outburst by Super Eagles striker, Victor Osimhen against the former coach of the national team, Finidi George.

The FIFA Council member was a guest on Arise TV programme yesterday morning and perhaps the first a high-ranking football personality will speak on the issue following the stay-mute mode of the Glasshouse and the Sports Ministry as well.

 “It is very unfortunate”, Amaju Pinnick remarked on an Arise Television programme. The former NFF president said he had put a call to Osimhen who was very remorseful while the telephone conversation lasted.

“I told him he has to apologise and Channel it to the appropriate quarters I am sure he would have done that,” Amaju remarked that he could not comprehend what went wrong as Osimhen was the most cool-headed player in the national team.

“He played a prominent role in Golden Eaglets’ win of the FIFA U-17 tournament in Chile in 2015 which happens to be my first trophy as the NFF President.

“I just could not comprehend what went wrong with but he needs to do the right thing and let the matter rest,” he pointed out.

He went on to remark that Finidi George was not a personality to be disregarded like that. “He has won virtually every honour available during his playing days and was a member of the Super Eagles at their peak when Nigeria ranked fifth in the world.

“I believe players should learn to respect their coaches”, said the former NFF boss.

Pinnick also explained his reason for being averse to Indigenous coaches stemmed from a lack of respect for them by the players.

“Yes, the Nigerian coaches have the requisite knowledge and the technical ability, but modern football is beyond that in managing players.

“Will the national team players respect the coach? The sad thing is that they don’t”, said Amaju Pinnick.

He explained that he supported the appointment of Finidi George owing to the circumstances that the NFF found itself in after the exit of Jose Peseiro.

“If the NFF says they don’t have the funding to secure a foreign coach at that time, I think the best option was to hire someone who had worked with the out-going manager to ensure a smooth transition at the time we were engaged in the last World Cup qualifying matches.

“Finidi was part of the coaching crew of Peseiro and it was therefore logical to ask him to continue unfortunately it did not work as expected.

On the precarious situation the Super Eagles have found themselves and the possibility of missing out for the second consecutive time, Pinnick said the team still has a chance to qualify and he trusted the NFF to do a diligent job at getting the right personnel to fill the vacant position.

“NFF doesn’t need to rush and appoint anybody, they don’t want to make a mistake and they are working with the Sports Ministry to get things in order.

“We need to come together and ensure that we win all our remaining matches and wait for a slip from South Africa through the Republic of Benin,” he pointed out.

He also thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the support he has given him towards his re-election bid next FIFA Council election.

“The presidential support is a huge advantage not just to me but the nation and I’ve been able to secure endorsement for my re-election bid,” he explained.