Emmanuel Emenike, scorer of Nigeria’s first goal against Malawi Saturday night showed the patriot in him when he declared that he was ready to play for Nigeria for free, saying winning a shirt to play for the national team was a greater motivation than monetary inducement.

A key player in the Eagles had rejected the $5,000 bonus when the money was taken to him. He said that “we will not collect $5,000. Our money should be $10,000.”

We gathered that tension was about to rise in the camp when one of the coaches who was expected to swiftly intervene was said to have begged officials to leave him out of the matter.

But nerves calmed when the paymaster of the team took money to Emenike and asked him if it was true that the team had rejected the$5,000 bonus for each player. Emenike was said to have frowned at that and said that they should quickly pay him whatever they had as bonus. He collected the money and said that playing for the national team was a great honour which all reasonable players must appreciate.

Next was Victor Moses who also said that they should quickly pay him what they had. Other players followed. This shamed the player who had first rejected the bonus. At this point, he also collected and the coach who had earlier asked that he be left out called a top official of the federation to announce that “the players have now agreed to take money.”

The player who first rejected the bonus was also at the centre of the bonus row that brought Nigeria international shame in Namibia. After the World Cup qualifier the Eagles rejected their bonus and said that they would not play in the Confederation Cup in Brazil. The federation had reverted to the $5,000 they paid to each player as winning bonus before the 2010 World Cup.

The increase was done by the Presidential Task Force for the World Cup. The federation reverted to their original payment without formally informing the players before the match in Kenya on June 5. The players, therefore, rejected the bonus for their victory in Kenya and the draw in Namibia. It took the intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan for the team to agree to fly to Brazil. The Presidency paid the balance.

Emenike’s patriotic action Saturday night led to the bandwagon effect that saved the federation another bonus row.

“Emenike saved us another bonus row. He is a great patriot. After a key player rejected our bonus and said the whole team had decided not to collect it, Emenike said that such will not happen with him and that playing for Nigeria was an honour greater than money,” a top official of the federation said yesterday even mentioning the name of the player who had plotted another revolt.

“Emenike said that whatever we pay was a token to what the players earn in Europe and that he was surprised bonus would be made an issue by some people.

Source: www.vanguardngr.com/2013/09/emenike-saves-nigeria-another-bonus-row/

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Theben: I suspect the key player is Mikel Obi