Contrary to a statement from the office of the minister for sports senator John Enoh washing their hands off the search for a new coach for the Super Eagles, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal that it’s his approval that is delaying the process.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has already agreed terms with a foreign coach but need to prove to the minister that they will be able to cater for his monthly salary, something the NFF can’t guarantee looking at the present dire state of their finances.
For that reason, the minister who has always maintained his stand on an indigenous coach has advised the NFF to hand the job to the present interim coach of the team Finidi George, rather than the foreign coach they have in mind.
Yesterday he met with some former players of the Super Eagles with Emmanuel Amuneke who is a leading candidate for the job also present. That meeting further strengthened the call for an indigenous coach.
We also gathered that while the minister isn’t pushing for Amuneke to be made the head coach , he has however made a case for the former Nigeria U17 coach to be a part of the technical crew in some capacity not necessarily as the head coach.
The board of the NFF will meet later today to deliberate on this development in view of bringing an end to the search for a replacement for Jose Peseiro, who left his role as coach at the expiration of his deal in February, a few weeks after leading the team to the AFCON final where they were beaten 2-1 by the host Cote d’Ivoire.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
