Gang-up against Eagles: NFF fires protest to CAF

By Tony Ubani

Livid with rage over the questionable officiating against Nigeria at the on-going African Cup of Nations, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF has fired a protest letter to the Confederation of African Football, CAF.

Technical Committee Chairman of the NFF, Barrister Chris Green confirmed that they have protested to CAF to look into the questionable calls by referees in the two matches so far played by Nigeria.

“We’ve registered our protest to CAF. The whole thing is annoying”, Green said at the Stay Easy hotel abode of the NFF.

Present Eagles

Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi had complained about the poor officiating that saw the Eagles receive five yellow cards and one red card in their first match against Burkina Faso which ended 1-1. And in the second match, what seemed like a penalty for Nigeria against Zambia was denied when Ahmed Musa was viciously hacked down inside the box.

Not only that, the Egyptian referee that officiated the match against Zambia murdered sleep when he awarded a questionable penalty against Nigeria to allow the defending Champions share the spoil at the end of proceedings.

Eagles goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama was so pained that he described the penalty award as ‘bizarre’. “That is the worst penalty call I’ve ever since in my life. It’s bizarre. It’s a weak call and I’m mad about it”, the ordinarily quiet goaltender boiled.

Keshi summed it up when he said that “I want people to look through the replay and judge if indeed it was a penalty”.

South African TVs have been replaying the penalty call to show that the call was indeed bizarre with many soccer fans criticizing the level of officiating at the Nations Cup.