By Patrick Omorodion
Former Assistant coach of the Super Eagles, Sylvanus Okpala has absolved the Board of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF from his sack, claiming that it was the handiwork of two officials, Alhaji Aminu Maigari and Chris Green, both President and Chairman of the NFF technical sub-committee respectively.

Okpala who marked one year of his sack on Tuesday said Maigari and Green should show Nigerians minutes of the NFF Board meeting where it was agreed that he should be disengaged from the Super Eagles because of lack of funds as well as where it was agreed that his bonus should be slashed by 50 %.

Sylvanus Okpala

“The NFF never met to take any decision that my bonus should be slashed by 50 % nor that the federation has no money hence should disengage me from fhe Eagles. It was Maigari and Green that took the decision. When I contacted other Board members, they said they were not aware of such decisions, so Maigari and Green should show Nigerians minutes of the meeting where it was decided,”he said.

Okpala equally disclosed that when he was paid half  bonus, he contacted Barrister Green to ask why his money was slashed and the technical committee boss told him it was an error from the NFF secretariat and that it would be sorted out when they got back to Nigeria after the Nations Cup.

“I had to call the NFF secretary general (Barrister Musa Amadu) from South Africa but he said it was not the fault of the secretariat. He said I should ask Maigari (the NFF president) because the money for every member of the technical crew was handed over to him,” Okpala said.

The former Eagles defender disclosed that he tried all avenues including writing to the Senate and House of Representatives to get the NFF to pay him his dues but didn’t record any success hence he had to resort to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland to get justice.

“I wrote to the Senate president personally, not through my lawyer and it was acknowledged and the president had to forward  it to the appropriate channel, the Senate Committee on sports but for reasons best known to the Committee chair, (Adamu Gimba), he didn’t do anything about it. Someone told me that he hails from Bauchi as the NFF president and I wondered why that should stop him from looking into my case.

“The House Committee on sports did not reply me either but its chairman (Godfrey Gaiya) told a newspaper that why would the NFF say they didn’t have money. He said even if they didn’t have money, have they written to the government or the National Assembly which appropriates money to them?. That was all he said but didn’t invite me. When I didn’t get any help from them I had to go to CAS,” he said.

An angry Okpala wondered that the same NFF which said they had no money to pay him allegedly sponsored many people to South Africa to the Nations Cup.The NFF paid for their flight, accommodated them, fed  them and must have given them allowance.”

“I am shocked that this is happening to me, a fomer captain of the Flying Eagles, former captain of the Super Eagles. I was honoured with MON and OON for serving this country. I got them on merit, I didn’t buy them and yet I  ambeing treated like this. It is painful,” he lamented.

He however, said he was ready for peaceful resolution of the matter and his lawyer has conveyed same to the CAS but “the NFF are yet to say whether they want out of court settlement or not and if the three weeks  given it by CAS  to confirm expires, the case will go and I am ready for them.”

When Vanguard Sports contacted  the NFF to confirm or deny  Okpala’s allegation, its first vice president, Chief Mike Umeh said “ I am not competent to speak on the matter. It is a technical issue, you should contact Green, he is in a better position to speak about it.”

The NFF scribe, Barrister Amadu could not be reached as he was said to be attending a FIFA seminar in South Africa.