Segun Odegbami blasts FIFA: 'You have no business with NFF crises'

Nigeria legend Segun Odegbami has blasted Fifa for interference in the ongoing crises engulfing the Nigeria Football Federation.

According to him, the problem of Nigerian football is not the lack of talent but lack of a well placed structure to help make the administrative setup work effectively.


"Our football has been developing slowly and steadily but our administration has not been developing at the same pace,” Odegbami told Goal.

"Yes, we have been winning and qualifying for a few competitions and so on but some of us think we should have done better than we are doing now. We ought to have been on a much higher level.

"At this point, we must look again at the structure in place to elect those who are going to take us to another level because what we have now is structurally deficient and it is fraught with all kinds of possibilities to manipulate, be unfair, bias, to put some people into certain positions and so on,” he continued.

"In all of these, there is a need for us now to make correction and the present crises present us with perfect opportunities to sit back and look at everything microscopically."

The former Green Eagles winger is disappointed with the manner at which the world football governing body has been managing the crises saying it is none of their business.

"All I think we need to do is to ask Fifa to give us breathing space, sit back and look back at those areas that are problematic and come up with something that will fulfill the aspirations of Nigerians, to have a football team to be one of the very best in the world.

"Our problem is none of Fifa’s business because it is our internal problem. It is us that took our problems to them and they will just come and give a solution whether it is right or wrong. This time around, we must tell them to stay back for us to look at our issues ourselves and resolve them,” he concluded.

Nigeria seem to have escaped a ban from Fifa after factional NFF leader Chris Giwa failed to turn up at the Glass House on Monday as part of requirements from the Swiss-based organization.

(Goal.com)