Top coaches Christian Chukwu and John Obuh have decried the premature exit of Kano Pillars from the CAF Champions League at the weekend.

Nigeria champions Pillars crashed out in the very first hurdle when they lost 4-3 on aggregate to AS Vita of DR Congo.

Former Nigeria coach Christian Chukwu described Pillars elimination as unfortunate and an embarrassment to the country.

“Pillars’ elimination was quite unfortunate. They did their best, but it was not good enough,” lamented Chukwu.

“No doubt, the non-start of the league contributed a lot to this loss just as the management’s delay in picking a coach also contributed to this shock exit.”

Former Nigeria U20 coach Obuh told MTNFootball.com Pillars ouster makes mockery of the Nigerian league.

“It is quite distasteful to hear that the Nigerian league champions are once again out of the continent in the preliminary round. It goes to show that much still needed to be done by the league managers so that we get credible representations,” Obuh said. “However, it must be stated that the non start of the domestic league, to a very large extent,  affected our teams on the continent. The earlier we put the league in order, the better for all of us. It is very painful.”