President Goodluck Jonathan had
good intentions when he
ordered the sports minister,
Tammy Danagogo to fly over $
3.5m to the Eagles to pay the
players their World Cup
appearance fees.
The players had demanded their
share of the $8m that fifa would
pay the Nigeria Football
Federation as one of the World
Cup finalists. They protested
before the match against France
and even refused to train for a
day over it.
FIFA was yet to pay Nigeria their
World Cup bonus but the team,
fearing that they might not be
paid when FIFA pays the NFF
protested and wanted theirs in
advance.
We gathered that after Senate
President, David Mark, contacted
the Presidency over the problem
in Brazil, President Jonathan
ordered Sports Minister to take
money to the team in Brazil. And
in a Presidential jet, the minister
landed and handed the money to
Stephen Keshi, the coach. Keshi
asked that the money be given to
the team secretary Enebi.
The sharing of over $3.5 money,
we gathered, took its tool on the
team on the eve of the round of
16 match with France last
Monday. Who gets what? They
continued debating and arguing
on the sharing formula till
2.00am on the match day.
Pesident Jonathan
The President’s intended good
gesture backfired.
“Did you notice that the players
tired out in the dying minutes of
the match and conceded two
goals,”a source with the team
asked yesterday.
“There was no way they could
have been strong when they
were fighting over money and
could not sleep well and prepare
for the match against France,”the
source said adding “the fight
over money destroyed the team
and unfortunately the President’s
gesture backfired.”
We also gathered that President
Jonathan was aware that NFF
had not received the money from
FIFA but was sad that the
federation failed to explain
things to them and avoid the
action that was going to tarnish
the image of the country. The
news that Nigerian players were
protesting to the extent of
missing training disturbed the
President and he gave the
directive that boosted the purses
of the players but which didn’t
help Nigeria’s game against
France. Problems will eventually
arise as the players who played
the qualifying matches but who
didn’t make the World Cup team
were all entitled to the World Cup
grant. But those who shared the
money in Brazil were so much in
a hurry that it was not clear if
they included them.
