We have something to play for – Siasia insists ahead of bronze medal match

Forum 7 years ago

We have something to play for – Siasia insists ahead of bronze medal match

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), has issued an official statement, in which they denied allegations made by the Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, over the delayed departure of the U-23 to the Olympics.
Dalung claimed that the team being stranded at their US training base was “a hoax” and an attempt to rip Nigeria off.

Chairman of the NFF media and publicity committee, Suleiman Yahaya-Kwande, has expressed his shock at the Minister’s statement.


“The NFF board and management are taken aback by these insinuations. The NFF president has been telling us of meeting between him and the minister on how to avoid the kind of situation we got into in the USA in the future. So, the Minister’s latest statements are a bombshell,” he said.

“We are not openly challenging the minister, but we must set the records straight. To start, we do not have any partnership with Delta Airlines, a company that we owe much gratitude for the way it came to the rescue to airlift our team to Brazil. The names of NFF’s partners and sponsors are known to the public.

“Secondly, the NFF is not aware of any receipt that was presented to the minister for airlifting the U23 team from Atlanta to Manaus.

“I am aware that the Minister himself requested for the phone number of our FIFA Match Agent (Jairo Pachon, who has been working with the NFF since 2009) when everybody became desperate about how the team would go to Brazil.


“The NFF president gave him the phone number, and the minister himself asked Pachon to go ahead and charter an aircraft, and Pachon reverted that the amount would be $174,000, as against the $300,000 that was bandied earlier.

“However, the money did not reflect in the airline company’s bank account within the deadline it gave to us, so the service was cancelled. We insist that Pachon acted in the best interest of Nigeria.”