President of the Nigeria Football
Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick yesterday
hit back at critics, who attacked him for
choosing to travel to England to watch the
Community Shield game between Arsenal
and Chelsea, even when various national
teams were involved in crucial Rio 2016
Olympic qualifiers.
Pinnick, who has not hidden his love for
London club Arsenal, had been hugely
criticised by football fans that he
abandoned the country’s teams to watch
Arsenal battle Chelsea.
The NFF president was spotted at the
Wembley for the Community Shield on a
day two of Nigeria’s teams were in action.
However, Pinnick took to his Twitter
account to clear the air insisting that he
was in London for business.
The Warri-born football administrator
through his twitter handle @PinnickAmaju
said “the fans got it wrong this time,
insisting he was only on a business trip to
finalise some sponsorship deals for
Nigeria.
“Hello all, no doubt I am an Arsenal fan
but I will never relegate my calling at NFF
for Arsenal,” he said.
“When Arsenal was playing against
Manchester some months ago, I was on
the road to Ibadan to watch 3SC against
Rangers.
“My vision about my mission in NFF is
clear and by God’s Grace, we shall get
there.
“I came into London for meetings with a
consortium of would-be sponsors, some
requested to see the Head Coach.
“Aside that, there are a lot of global
politics going on and if Nigeria must be
accorded her pride of place in global
football politics, then we must participate
at the highest level.
“I appeal for your understanding and
prayers, nothing good comes easy.”
While Pinnick was away, the Nigeria’s
senior women’s team, Super Falcons, lost
2-1 to Equatorial Guinea and missed out
on the 2016 Olympics, the national U-23
team battled to a 0-0 in Congo to move to
the next stage of the Olympics qualifiers.
Report from the federations official
website also confirmed that Pinnick and
Oliseh were at Wembley on Sunday as the
Super Eagles’ new gaffer keenly desired to
meet officially with John Mikel Obi, Victor
Moses (Chelsea) and Alex Iwobi (Arsenal).
“We held a number of meetings with some
groups that indicated interest in Nigeria
football. It is my responsibility to expatiate
on the direction that we want to take
Nigeria football, and Oliseh is our Head
Coach now and they needed to listen to
his own development plans as well,”
Pinnick confirmed in a report monitored
from the Nigeria Football Federation’s
official website, thenff.com.

Good one Presido. Nothing wey person do for this world wey people no go talk.... Ride on Sir!