Kojo blames Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan for Eagles ouster from AFCON

Published on: 23 November 2014
Kojo blames Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan for Eagles ouster from AFCON
Goodluck Jonathan has been blames for the Super Eagles AFCON woes

Outspoken former head of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Anthony Kojo Williams has blamed President Goodluck Jonathan for the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.

Speaking yesterday to Saturday Vanguard Sports, Kojo said that it was wrong for President Jonthan to overturn the decision of the NFF to relieve Keshi of his duties after last month’s AFCON qualifying match against Sudan in Abuja, arguing that the Presidential directive created the mess Eagles have found themselves in now.

“The one person who created this mess is the President. It was wrong of him recall Keshi when he was told to go by the NFF. We do not know if Nigeria would have qualified under the consortium of coaches led by Shaibu Amodu but that infamous decision to recall Keshi was responsible for our failure as the latter became bigger than the NFF as he was no longer answerable to them again”, said a livid Kojo.

Indeed, Keshi, in the days leading to the final two AFCON 2015 qualifying matches against Congo and South Africa, said his future with the team was not tied to the Eagles performance, a subtle way of saying that no matter the results that he was going to remain in charge..

It is this attitude of the former Togo and Mali manager that Kojo finds most resentful, insisting that it was time for some total cleansing of the football house.

He pointedly attacked the NFF board, led by Amaju Pinnick as a lame duck for accepting full responsibility for Keshi’s failure to safely steer the Eagles ship to next year’s AFCON.

“The NFF as presently led by Amaju Pinnick has been caged. Those guys do not have the guts to stand on their decision. It is most shameful and disgusting that they have accepted responsibility for Keshi’s failure to qualify for the Nations Cup.

“When Siasis failed to qualify the Eagles for the Nations Cup in 2012, he was sacked. So why are they afraid to sack Keshi after he failed to qualify us for Equatorial Guinea 2015? I am totally shocked with what is going on. I am tired of this country.

“I expected Pinnick and his board to have resigned when the President overturned their decision to sack Keshi because they are the ones running our football, not our President, who has a lot on his hands to deal with. They should have stuck to their ground and told the President why they sacked Keshi but all of them, simply kept quiet and look at the mess that came out of that decision”, Kojo added.

 

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