A major confrontation capable of further
embarrassing Nigeria at the 2016 Olympic
Games appears to be brewing between members
of the Dream Team VI and officials of Nigeria
Football Federation over a cash gift from a
Japanese doctor.
The donation, totalling $390,000, came from
Katsuya Takasu, a plastic surgeon and football
enthusiast, to boost the morale of the Nigerian
players who have been bogged down by financial
inadequacies.
Mr. Takasu informed the Nigerian government
through its embassy in Tokyo that he intended to
make the donation, adding that he would fly
Brazil to personally hand in the funds to the
players and also watch Nigerian team’s duel with
Honduras played this Saturday.
Nigeria defeated Honduras 3-2, winning bronze
at the Olympics, 20 years after it defeated
Argentina to clinch gold at the Atlanta 1996
Olympics.
Mr. Takasu said the team coach, Samson Siasia,
and its captain, Mikel Obi, should each take
$200,000 and $190,000, respectively.
But out of the blue on Saturday afternoon,
reports emerged that some NFF officials had
‘hijacked’ the process and demanded that Mr.
Takasu must hand the money to them for
onward disbursement to team members.
Idah Peterside, a sports analyst and former
goalkeeper for the Super Eagles, was amongst
the first persons to raise the alarm on social
media.
“More trouble in the dream team camp….the
money from the Japanese man to the dream
team.has been hijacked by the NFA (he meant
NFF),” Mr. Petersaid said. “They want to use the
money to pay the coaches as salaries. Bitrus
Bewarang was sent to get the money from the
Japanese, but the players say it’s their money.”
Mr. Peterside’s alarm elicited immediate response
from Nigerians who said the NFF had no business
fiddling with the donation because its conditions
were clear, and many condemned those
responsible for the controversy as greedy and
shameless.
“There’s greed. Then, there’s corruption. And
there’s that condition of having no capacity for
shame whatsoever,” tweeted Gbenga Sesan, a
capacity development expert.
But the NFF denied the allegations, saying it took
over the process because it wanted the funds to
be routed through appropriate channels.
“The NFF has not collected any money from
Japanese plastic surgeon, Dr. Katsuya Takasu, as
against the misinformation by Mr. Idah,” the NFF
said in a post on its Twitter handle Saturday
afternoon.
Amaju Pinnick, the NFF president, said since
Nigeria is a sovereign nation, it would be out of
place to allow an individual make donations
directly to individual team members.
“Nigeria is a sovereign nation and such a
donation must go through a process. If we get a
go-ahead, it will go directly to the team,” Mr.
Pinnick said. “To say NFF has ‘hijacked’ the
money is outright mischief. The checks must be
concluded and we are given a go-ahead to
collect by the government.”
A letter from Nigeria’s Charge d’Affaires in Tokoya
to the sports authorities stated the beneficiaries
of Mr. Takasu’s donation as Mr. Siasia and Mr.
Obi, but the NFF or any of its officials was not
included.
Mr. Takasu said he made the donation to the
players after hearing about their financial crisis.
“I read about the financial problems affecting the
team and I felt the need to make a big
contribution,” Mr. Takasu told the BBC earlier this
week.
saharareporters.com/2016/08/20/crisis-brews-nff-hijacks-390000-dream-team-gift-japanese-doctor

Wen will NFF stop embarrassing Nigeria??.....Forget about Nigeria!!!,d man did nt mk a promise to d Nigerian govt or Nigeria as a whole,he made it to d members of dream-team...So pls,let him fulfill his promise!

We hv suffered more than enough embarrassments 4rm NFF already,we dnt need this!

In another news, the cheques has been present individually to Mikel and Siasia. Kudos to the dream team

This pinnick is a clown.
These players got stranded in Atlanta, no appropriate channel was mentioned, no sovereign anything was mentioned. Nigeria under Fulani varnished.

They defeated their first opponent a few hours after squeezing their way into Brazil and the cult beret fool flew first class to Brazil immediately for damage control.

Mikel Obi has been carrying this team and there has not been any official statement from the "Sovereign nation" to thank and appreciate him, oh OK, he is 5%, i forgot.

Now someone rewarded them for their efforts and appropriate channel is introduced all of a sudden.
Since when did NFF start to handle individual donations?

I wish to donate 1000$ to the team too. Can someone get me Buhari's phone number, I want to make sure it goes through the appropriate channel too, I don't trust Pinnick.
I would accept Zara's phone number if his dad's is not available.

These guys are shameless and greedy. After messing our boys up, they are still trying to steal from them. Na thunder go fire NFF and Dalungie together with his red beret. Smh...

Nigeria with the habit of disgracing us, greed aka long throat

if I were among the players, some old idiots intestine would have been on the floor by now..after what this boys has gone trough in the hands of this criminals,.. they want to collect the gift that is meant to console them? buhari you told us you administration will be made up of saint's.but the devil is even learning wickedness from your saints..