Against all odds, Nigeria’s Olympic soccer team performed well in the Rio Olympics. The uphill tasks they had to overcome en route the ‘golden bronze’ is a lesson in courage and grit determination. In this interview with Ayodeji Victor Bolorunduro, a Qatar-based Nigerian journalist, Bunmi Jinadu, founder of United Soccer Africa, the organizers of the team’s training camp in Atlanta, bared his mind on all that transpired during the team’s sojourn in the USA. Jinadu sponsored Nigeria’s team in their training camp in Atlanta. He tells the story. Excerps: Can you give an overview of the U23 Nigerian team’s training and camping experience in the US? The camp started off well from touching down at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport on July 3 where they were met as a group by Customs and Border patrol and from there transferred to the Hyatt Place Lithonia, Georgia. The following day, July 4, being a national holiday, afforded the team enough opportunity to rest after a tedious journey. What was the real issue regarding the flight delay and how was it eventually handled? Our agreement with the NFF initially was to organize a ten-day camp (July 3- July 16) and after that for them to either fly the team back to Nigeria or continue camping and they would leave for Brazil from there. This was our initial plan and this made sense. So they were to make further arrangement from July 17. At that point Nigeria was in contact with the team. Later, the attempt to book and fly the 35 man delegation failed. So plan B was to charter a flight. We got one that could fly 30 people. The team didn’t want to go in it and personally I would have done the same. It was important to respect the position of the players. As this continued, CNN and all the mainstream media had picked up BBC’s report that a delayed payment from Nigeria’s sports ministry to the airline was the primary cause for the team’s frustrations in Atlanta. Other outlets quickly picked up on that story, and soon the airport was being bombarded with requests for interviews. The sports minister’s statements at this point also didn’t help matters because it made it seam Nigeria was not in sync with our program. A senior Airport executive from Hartsfield Jackson International, being a partner /sponsor of United Soccer Africa’s Nigeria Olympic Team’s camp in Atlanta, sent a text to me and asked “Bunmi- Are there any issues with the team leaving ATL? I’ve just received another call from a reporter asking if your chartered flight was delayed or stranded. What is going on?” I said that it was coming. He said I should reach out to him if there were problems. So, I went back to the hotel and I saw the situation and at this point, for the first time, I knew the problem was not being resolved. 11th hour was approaching. I got another call from a different executive at the airport asking if he could forward all media requests and interviews to me. At this point I obliged. The first call I got was from NBC Sports and they asked if they could record the interview and I told them yes. I said if the US team were facing the same problem there would up to 50 private jets and options for them into Brazil. And because they (the US team) didn’t qualify, the Nigeria Olympic Soccer team was now the “US Team” because they came to Atlanta to train and to also be part of the City’s 20th anniversary of hosting the Olympics. So if anything, we could show them some southern hospitality and with Delta having their hub here, it could find a plane that could fly the team into Manaus in time for the first match against Japan. After all, Lagos to Atlanta is one of the busiest routes for Delta globally and Nigerians have supported Delta economically. Next thing, I got a call from Delta Airline’s Leadership team stating they were looking for a plane but no promises yet. They then called back and said they found a plane that would leave at 8.00am and be in Manaus at 2.00 pm (five hours before their game) and that the plane would come in from Cincinnati, Ohio and there was a crew on standby. I said, “Great, how much” they said, “Mr. Jinadu,normally this plane cost $250,000 but our objective is to get the team there in time for their game and we can deal with this later. I then made the decision and called coach Siasia and this was how the team got to Brazil. So the Nigeria contingent didn’t pay for the trip to Rio from Atlanta? Yes, Delta Airline conveyed the team free of charge to Rio without a single dime being paid by the Ministry of Sports or the NFF. It was Delta Airline’s valuable contribution to the team and the arrangement was facilitated by my relationship with the airline. No payment whatsoever was made either by the NFF or the Ministry of Sports as none was expected by the airline as far as I am concerned and these are verifiable. Source: VANGUARD

So what happened to the initial deposit Sports ministry claimed they paid but did not reflect in account on time?

Oga at least put a paragraph