Obayiuwana clears air on Falcons’ bonus row
Football journalist, Osasu Obayiuwana, says quotes Twitter ascribed to him in the bonus row between the Super Falcons and the Nigeria Football Federation are not his.
He said the quotes he tweeted stated the position of the NFF on the protest by the Falcons in France, after crashing out of the Women’s World Cup, adding that they were that of the NFF president, Amaju Pinnick, which was confirmed by our correspondent.
“I have no views as such. I am a journalist and was simply reporting what was going on in France, using the network of sources that I have built in 30 years of journalism. The only thing I will say is that the ‘sit-in’ hotel protest was an international embarrassment for Nigeria,” Obayiuwana stated.
“It is not the first time it has happened. A worse incident happened at an AWCON (African Women’s Cup of Nations) in South Africa, many years ago, when the players refused to leave the hotel for several days, after winning the trophy, because their bonuses and allowances were not paid.
“The whole world took notice of our football in France, for the wrong reasons. We want the world to pay attention to Nigerian football for what we achieve on the pitch, not the wrong things that we do off it.”
He, however, recommended that there should be clear financial guidelines that must be respected by the federation on how players should be paid to avoid subsequent protests over unpaid bonuses and allowances.
Punch
