Veteran coach Joe Erico said Emmanuel Emenike’s premature retirement did not come to him by surprise. “It’s not strange,” he reacted. “He has done well within a short spell with the national team.

Joe Erico and Keshi

Taking a bow when the ovation is still loud is remarkable.

“Emenike wrote on his Instagram page that he was resigning to avoid insults. We should ask ourselves, where is the insult from? And as a journalist, that is what I want you to analyse.

Are the insults coming from his fellow players, his coach, fans or Nigerians generally? I think it is everybody’s problem. We must learn to honour our own.

Asked whether he feels the problem is coming from Super Eagles coach, as Emenike’s retirement was coming two weeks after the Vincent Enyeama’s episode. Erico retorted, “I don’t think it has anything to do with Oliseh. It is because we now have social media that anything that happens now the next moment it is all over the world. Why did some people leave the national team in the past unheralded? Can you say how Keshi, Okocha and even Oliseh leave the national team? We had no social media then and they left quietly.”