The international future of Gent of Belgium free scoring striker Gift Orban has been settled in favour of Nigeria, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
Orban was handed a first time call up to the senior national team of Nigeria after ending last season with 20 goals from 22 games, following his move to the Belgium side from second division Norwegian side Stabæk.
He was listed among the players for the team’s last AFCON qualifiers game against Sao Tome and Principe, however he failed to make the matchday squad for the game with head coach Jose Peseiro sighting a knock he picked up in training.
Sources however debunked the claims made by the coach by revealing that confusion over his nationality led to the decision to exclude him from the matchday squad for the game. It was said that he is a Togolese with no connection to Nigeria.
Togo went further to claim that he played for their B team with a different name and identity three years ago. Documents to back their claims were forwarded to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
The 21 year old strongly denied having anything to do with Togo, emphatically stating that he is a Nigerian and his father hails from Benue state in Nigeria. The NFF however told Peseiro to leave him out of the team until the issue is sorted.
It appears to have been settled in his favor with sources in the NFF confirming that he is now free to play for the Super Eagles if called up by head coach Jose Peseiro.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
