Nigeria’s FA Boss Blames Form on Corruption Probe

The President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has blamed the country’s lack of international success on the various corruption probes that are ongoing into its activities.

Amaju Pinnick said the investigations had starved the NFF of desperately needed funds, as he responded to calls from the country’s sports minister, Sunday Dare, to explain the recent run of poor form after the two met on Tuesday.

The NFF released a 15-page statement on its website responding to Minister Dare’s comments.

“Issues of funding (inadequacy and late release of same) and the toxic and disruptive environment in which the NFF has had to operate for the past 18 months (with the Federation’s leadership and brand falsely and maliciously dragged from one investigative agency to the other and from one court to the other on same baseless allegations) are the core reasons for the poor outings of the Super Falcons, CHAN Eagles, Golden Eaglets and Olympic Eagles in recent international matches/tournaments”, it read.

The Nigerian government recently dropped investigations into Pinnick and four other officials connected with the NFF, but other probes into corruption allegations remain active.

All five of the officials that have been investigated deny all wrongdoing and maintain their innocence.

Both the men’s and women’s teams failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, but it’s not just at the senior level that Nigeria is failing at.

The under-17 and under-20 sides were knocked out of this year’s World Cup at the round of 16, failed to qualify for the African Nations Championship next year and were knocked out of the regional Wafu Cup tournament.