Chief Adokiye Amesiamaka revealed in his column in Punch newspaper that he once has the captain in Sharks youth team in 2002 and he claimed to be 18 years old then. More at kickoffnigeria.com:

Former Green Eagles winger Adokiye Amiesimaka has claimed that Golden Eaglets captain Fortune Chukwudi is at least nine years older than he says he is.

http://www.kickoff.com/static/news/article.php?id=11986

NFF Executive committee member Taiwo Ogunjobi has accused former international Adokiye Amiesimaka of 'having an agenda' after the former Green Eagles winger claimed in his weekly column that Nigeria Under-17 captain Fortune Chukwudi is over aged.

http://www.kickoff.com/static/news/article.php?id=12001

Its funny when people in authority comes out to
defend their unpopular action, what is more worrying
is when the larger society supports such action.
If something is wrong let us all condemn it and stop
giving excuses, will any sane person say the so called
little messi{stanley okoro} not more than 17.
We all have siblings of their age and we know
what they look like t age 17.

Eaglets captain allegedly overage
Posted: 2009-11-01 21:45

Former Green Eagles winger Adokiye Amiesimaka has claimed that Golden Eaglets captain Fortune Chukwudi is at least nine years older than he says he is.

Writing in his column for national daily, The Punch, Amiesimaka claims that Chukwudi played for his Sharks youth team as far back as 2002/2003 football season.

"In the 2002/2003, I was chairman of the Sharks of Port Harcourt," Amiesimaka wrote. "I decided to have a feeder team of fresh school leavers not older than 20 years.

"As the feeder team concept was relatively new and because I had my own ideas about how a team at that level should be handled, I also doubled as its coach.

"One of my key players then is the current captain of our so-called Under 17 team.

"By his own admission at that time, that is seven years ago, he was 18 years old. MRI test or not his football history is common knowledge.

"If we are not utterly irresponsible, how can he be eligible for this tournament when he is not less than 25 years old now?" Amiesimaka said.

Chukwudi has a case to answer.

Did he or did he not play for sharks youth team 7 years ago?

And if he did, was he 18 years old or was he 10 years old then?

NFF has done most of their job by organising the scan, so can't blame them much. It is had to track people's history in a country that does not keep records.

So I thot these guys were put thru the unpopular MRI wrist scans?

But to be honest, I was watching Burkina Faso play Costa Rica , and u dont need a crystal ball to tell that those Burkina Faso players were all U-17,

I tried not to compare them with the Nigerian players

^^^^ Did you see the Gambian players?

Complete BOYS, nothing else. Not even up for debate.

They looked like any normal 16 year old you see in secondary school. No need to explain that "he might not look like other 16 year old, but he possibly could just be a kid that looks older than his age".

Anyone telling me that Okoro is 16 needs his brain examined!

Thats why i dont watch the Nigerian U-17 matches. The AGBAYAS and baba ibeji playing with teens

they should all produce their primary school certficates. that way we can check their real ages.

Honestly, this is a stale news as we all know that there is no single player in that team that is below 20. It didn’t start with this set of players; it has been there since the inception of football. My problem with Amiesimaka is the timing of this outburst. Where was he when the list of the team was released? He seems to be pursuing a personal vendetta against the guy. I can swear that even during his own playing days, he had lied at one time or the other. Let us all stop deceiving ourselves, it's possible for the whites to present players with their true ages because by their physical nature, food & environment, they can look big than their ages. But that cannot be said of Black. If we are truly present team according to the real ages of the players, Africa and black generally will be playing last fiddle (not even second) in sport competition. This is because our physical nature, food, lifestyle, environment don't work in our favour. Sometimes when I look at all thes players like Okocha, Kanu, Finidi, & everyone of them, I laugh because at 30 FIFA can take my man for under 12 with his face, stature & physique if he intends to take to sport.
On the other hand, if FIFA tests all these player and they passed, then you shouldn’t condemn the culprits but the examiner becos like Hausas will say, everyone na barawo na the person wey catch………………….

http://thepmnews.com/2009/11/02/u-17-world-cup-shocker-eaglets-skipper-25-years-old


•Golden Eaglets’ captain, Fortune Chukwudi


U-17 World Cup Shocker: Eaglets Skipper 25 Years Old


A stunning revelation has been made by former Green Eagles winger, Adokiye Amiesimaka, who claimed that the Golden Eaglets’ captain, Fortune Chukwudi is about 25 years old.

Adokiye, a lawyer and former Rivers State Commissioner for Justice, alleged that Chukwudi is at least nine years older than he says he is, saying the player has no business playing in the current FIFA U-17 World Cup.

The Barrister, who wrote in his Sunday column for a national daily newspaper, The Punch, titled: ‘Once again, we have let our children down,’ claims that Chukwudi played for his Sharks’ youth team as far back as 2002/2003 football season.


The revelation, which was reported by a website, kickoff.com late yesterday, picked a hole in the ages of the players featuring in the cadet championship.

“In the 2002/2003 season, I was chairman of Sharks Football Club of Port Harcourt,” Adokiye wrote in the Punch. “I decided to have a feeder team of fresh school leavers not older than 20 years.

“As the feeder team concept was relatively new and because I had my own ideas about how a team at that level should be handled, I also doubled as its coach.

“One of my key players then is the current captain of our so-called Under 17 Golden Eaglets. By his own admission at that time, that is seven years ago, he was 18 years old.

“Remember the Magnetic Resonance Imaging, MRI, test that disqualified a greater percentage of players in our previous team as overaged, thereby decimating that team? MRI or not, his football history is common knowledge.

“If we are not utterly irresponsible, how can he be eligible for this tournament when he is not less than 25 years old now?” Adokiye revealed.

The former Nigerian player continued: “I really wonder whether the MRI test was done on each and every one of the players. If, indeed, a thorough exercise was conducted, then FIFA must review the procedure.

“For the avoidance of doubt, it is not only Nigeria that should be the focus of FIFA’s attention, but every participating country in the tournament should also be carefully scrutinised.”

When our reporter cornered Chukwudi after the Eaglets’ training at the Old Parade Ground, Abuja early today, the skipper did not react to Adokiye’s allegation.

Rather, Chukwudi, told our man to ask him questions relating to Nigeria’s round of 16 match against New Zealand on Thursday. “I don’t want to be distracted, I just want to concentrate on our next match which is a knockout and please, please, please, no distraction, okay,” the Eaglets skipper reacted.

Eaglets’ Coach, John Obuh also declined comments on the alleged fielding of overaged players in the Nigerian team. The Nigeria Football Federation, NFF is yet to make an official statement on the allegation.

Meanwhile, FIFA Vice President, Jack Warner said at a press conference in Abuja this afternoon that the body is still going on with the MRI test and that the players featuring in the U-17 World Cup are being tested at random for doping.

Another saga unfolding . . . lemme cross my fingers and watch, while i puff my Cuban Cigar

As far as I am concerned, that Adokiye man is a stupid, useless and unpatriotic man.

Where was he all this while? Or has he been in hibernation or coma for the last five months? I beleive this man is just looking for cheap publicity, he wants people to know him, thank God, that I dont know you, I would have stoned you to stupor. What arrant nonsense! EFCC should check his record, I am sure himself falsified his age, certificate and more. Mr. Enemy within.

Adokiye has been steadily watching these guys play, looking for their failure which will give him the opportunity to blame
the failures on Chukwudi, but God did not allow it happen dat way, he is just jealous, probably because the player he bribed the NFF to include is not there.

Johnnny:

As far as I am concerned, that Adokiye man is a stupid, useless and unpatriotic man.

Where was he all this while? Or has he been in hibernation or coma for the last five months? I beleive this man is just looking for cheap publicity, he wants people to know him, thank God, that I dont know you, I would have stoned you to stupor. What arrant nonsense! EFCC should check his record, I am sure himself falsified his age, certificate and more. Mr. Enemy within.

Adokiye has been steadily watching these guys play, looking for their failure which will give him the opportunity to blame
the failures on Chukwudi, but God did not allow it happen dat way, he is just jealous, probably because the player he bribed the NFF to include is not there.

Yeah, I also find his timing to be a little odd and that alone portrays him as being kind of vindictive.

However, the big question remains,  is his utterances true? And if it is , then we havent learnt anything at all as a footballing nation.
Using over aged players to excel in youth tournaments has not helped us in the global picture of football.

harmeenut:

. Let us all stop deceiving ourselves, it's possible for the whites to present players with their true ages because by their physical nature, food & environment, they can look big than their ages. But that cannot be said of Black. If we are truly present team according to the real ages of the players, Africa and black generally will be playing last fiddle (not even second) in sport competition.

Stop saying that,,,,,,,are the Burkinababes not from the African continent?    I saw their final group match,  they almost played the Costa Ricans off the stadium. The C. Ricans could barely keep up. Go see those Burkina players and tell me if those guys dont look like your average 16 yr old. They even have the youngest player of the tournament in their fold. He was said to be barely 15 and when I saw him, I didnt doubt it one bit. He even scored!!!! 

Sagamite also suggests that one should see the Gambian team,  so it is not as if Africans can't be honest with their ages, abeg

@sagamite

I don't think Chukwudi alone should be blamed! You should read Ogunjobi's reply to Adokie's blast on kickoffnigeria.com and you will know the NFF should take the blame too!

Firstly, Adokie claims this guy played for Sharks. If the NFF had a proper database, all they should have done before the tournament started was to check the DB even before Adokie made the claims. Afterall, their DB should show name,age, and photographs of registered players in the NPL.

The NFF is incompetent simple! I also remember when the noise came out before the tournament that most of the players are overaged, the NFF came out to say their choices will not be solely based on the MRI scans but will let the players' parents come and swear to the true ages of their children! lmao!

Adokiye has taken it too far this time

wrong timing . . .

proudly9ja:

@sagamite

I don't think Chukwudi alone should be blamed! You should read Ogunjobi's reply to Adokie's blast on kickoffnigeria.com and you will know the NFF should take the blame too!

Firstly, Adokie claims this guy played for Sharks. If the NFF had a proper database, all they should have done before the tournament started was to check the DB even before Adokie made the claims. Afterall, their DB should show name,age, and photographs of registered players in the NPL.

The NFF is incompetent simple! I also remember when the noise came out before the tournament that most of the players are overaged, the NFF came out to say their choices will not be solely based on the MRI scans but will let the players' parents come and swear to the true ages of their children! lmao!

The guy was in Sharks Youth team, so I doubt he would be on any NFF database.

^^^ point taken.

But I can assure you there's no such database. As a matter of fact I know for sure that Nigerian players play for a club one season, go to europe to scout for clubs, fail and come back home under an assumed name and age and new passport and play for another team! And if he hasn't played for the national team before, he will play with the age on his new passport!

The only hope we have now is prolly with the new e-passport which records biometrics of owners. At least that way we are sure that noone can have more than one passport at a time and if he renews in future, its with the same consistent data he gave out in the first place.

if the guys passport says he is under 17 wots the problem na only we dey do am . even the south amercians do it .

Does anyone else think Okoro is under 17 too

manuch:

if the guys passport says he is under 17 wots the problem na only we dey do am . even the south amercians do it .

*shakes head out of pity*

MrCrackles:

I think he is sixteen donkey years!

And how many calender years do we have in a donkey years please??

Ogunjobi blasts Adokiye

NFF Executive committee member Taiwo Ogunjobi has accused former international Adokiye Amiesimaka of 'having an agenda' after the former Green Eagles winger claimed in his weekly column that Nigeria Under-17 captain Fortune Chukwudi is over aged.

Fifteen players from Nigeria's team were dropped in the run-up to the tournament after they failed to pass an MRI age-verification test.

Chukwudi was one of those who passed, but his age has been called into question by Adokiye, who says the player turned out for him as an 18-year-old seven years ago.

The claim has left Ogunjobi, chairman of the Federation's Technical Committee, fuming.

"He is just looking for a way to discredit Nigerian football," Ogunjobi flared.

"People like him, we know their plans. They are not after the interest of the country. They just want to discredit those who are there now so they can come in and take over."

Addressing the key question of Chukwudi's age, Ogunjobi reiterated that the player passed the MRI test, and not just once.

"Regarding this set of players, we have the confidence that none of them is over aged," he told KickOffNigeria.com.

"They did the MRI test both in Nigeria and in Doha when they went for the training camp and they all passed. We did not just rely on the test we did in Nigeria.
"In fact, just to be sure, we took three of the players who failed originally so that they could do the test again and they still failed.

"I can assure you that if we do the test again, all our players will pass."
Ogunjobi went on to question Amiesimaka's sanity

http://www.kickoff.com/static/news/article.php?id=12001

Even though it is an open secret that many, if not all, of the players are over aged, I think Adokiye, at least in the spirit of rebranding, would have done better keeping silent. More 'debranding' is this topic making homepage of NL.

I will like to say that some of the boys in our team candidly look a bit young, take kayode and some of 2 or 3 regulars that i can not remember their names right now. This is due partly to FIFA's use of the MRI, the real shock is that Adokiye Amiesimaka blow the whistle and some "real nigerian" here are calling him traitor, this make you wonder where we are heading to in this country of saints and sinners is equal proportions of 1:1

I am sure Chief Adokiye had access to the team list before the commncement of the tournament and he should have raised this issue then. That  would have been seen as raising a patriotic observation. What does he intend to achieve by raising this issue now? To disqualify Nigeria or what?

If you look at most of the teams, especially the ones from Africa, you'll notice a lot of potentially overaged players. gambia crashed out because their 18 of their 23 member squad that won the Africa championship were disqualified by MRI tests.

Can Africans really compete in this tournament with truly under 17 players despite the nutritional challenges we face?

olofofo:

I will like to say that some of the boys in our team candidly look a bit young, take kayode and some of 2 or 3 regulars that i can not remember their names right now. This is due partly to FIFA's use of the MRI, the real shock is that Adokiye Amiesimaka blow the whistle and some "real nigerian" here are calling him traitor, this make you wonder where we are heading to in this country of saints and sinners is equal proportions of 1:1

Are you sure that's the ratio?

A pity . No wonder Nigerian football is in taters while felow Africans and other countries football is florishing. Are we trying to say in a country where more than half of the population is young they can't find more than enough truly under 17 players. I feel NFF were not really interested in finding them but wanted to win by all means. It's a common thing even back then in secondary school, mercenaries are hired to run for schools even in the universities too mercenaries ( people who are not students but guys who work out at the sports stadium) are called upon to represent schools at sporting events and given ID card and all needed to represent the school.

We blame OBJ, blame Yaradua , keep blaming our leaders for the problems , hmmm, it's the system. We should not blame the whistle blower for blowing the whistle. When should have been the right time ? When we won the cup with the "16 year "very old captain so our oppenents should have a reason for our disqualification ? When you are a star that is when all sorts of stories will come out . If he was nto the captian stories might not have come out.

We should have only NFF to blame

Jarus:

Are you sure that's the ratio?

every saint is a sinner in nigeria!

olofofo:

I will like to say that some of the boys in our team candidly look a bit young, take kayode and some of 2 or 3 regulars that i can not remember their names right now. This is due partly to FIFA's use of the MRI, the real shock is that Adokiye Amiesimaka blow the whistle and some "real nigerian" here are calling him traitor, this make you wonder where we are heading to in this country of saints and sinners is equal proportions of 1:1

Question is, why NOW?

mr.official:

This guy is fuckin overage! I used to look at him in the first round. Naija with corrupt senses.

You seem to forget that People grow younger in Nigeria not older. Thus Nigeria is the only country in the world where people's age decreases with time