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Sunday Oliseh, Super Eagles Coach

Oliseh quits as Super Eagles coach

Sunday Oliseh, Super Eagles Coach
Sunday Oliseh, Super Eagles Coach
Sunday Oliseh has resigned his position as coach of the senior national team, the Super Eagles, eight months after appointment by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF).
While the NFF is yet to react officially to the development, a top official of the Glass House, however confirmed that Oliseh had thrown in the towel, Friday, with barely a month to the crucial two-legged encounter with Egypt for a place in the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 2017.
Nigeria host seven-time African champions and group leaders Egypt on March 25 in Kaduna before a reverse fixture days later in Egypt.
“Oliseh has resigned as Super Eagles coach after he did not enjoy the right support from the Nigeria Football Federation.
“His resignation letter was addressed to NFF president Amaju Pinnick and he copied principal officials like the general secretary.
“He also spoke on the phone with the sports minister,” said the NFF source.
He is owed four months’ salary in addition to a promised accommodation in the nation’s capital of Abuja which has yet to be redeemed.
It was also understood that he was very unhappy over the dismissal of his personal assistant and former international Tijjani Babangida and rumours that the NFF approached former Cote d’Ivoire coach Herve Renard, who has since been appointed coach of Morocco.
Former Nigeria skipper Oliseh was appointed in July 2015 as the country’s coach in place of sacked Stephen Keshi.
However, the relationship between he and the NFF has soured since Nigeria failed to go past the group stage of the recent African Nations Championship in Rwanda.
Amid speculations over his future, Oliseh took to the social media platform YouTube to vent his frustration by attacking his critics who wanted him sacked, but he will later apologise.
Oliseh was expected to appear before the NFF Technical Committee, Friday, for a scheduled meeting in Abuja to defend his team list for the AFCON qualifiers with Egypt.
The coach had told the committee that he will be in England this weekend to meet up with some of the country’s top stars in the Premier League like John Mikel Obi of Chelsea, Watford striker Odion Ighalo as well as Victor Moses, who is on loan at West Ham from Chelsea.
The NFF had, however, ordered Oliseh to be in Abuja on the same day to defend his call-ups for next month’s all-important AFCON 2017 qualifiers against Egypt.
An official of the federation disclosed that the committee is expected to deliberate on the CHAN 2016 report, among other pressing technical matters affecting the various national teams.
Both the Nigeria Under-23 and Under-20 male teams are expected to shortly begin training ahead of major engagements.
The Olympic team is due to play a series of friendly matches against Rio Olympics hosts Brazil next month, while the Flying Eagles will begin their qualifying campaign in May for the Under-20 AFCON in Zambia in 2017.
Meanwhile, reports have emerged that was paid a backlog of four months amounting to N20 million, even as his Assistant Tijani Babangida denied the payment.
Oliseh, it is alleged quit the national team after he was sure he received N20m in backlog of unpaid wages from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
A top official of the NFF told Africanfootball.com that the coach was paid four months’ salary before calling it quits.
Oliseh was also obliged by the contract he signed with the NFF that he would notify the governing body of his impending resignation one month before.
However, Oliseh’s special assistant Tijjani Babangida denied the payment before he quit, saying Oliseh’s relationship with the NFF was “terribly polluted” and that there was the possibility that he could be sacked if he did not appear today in Abuja before the technical committee.

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