₦airaland Forum

Former England manager, Glenn Hoddle, has said some top Nigerian officials demanded a bribe of $500,000 to facilitate his getting the country’s top coaching job.

According to Kwara State Governor, Bukola Saraki, Hoddle complained to him that some officials demanded he inflate his wage demands by $500,000 because this would guarantee the Englishman the job to lead the Super Eagles to the 2010 World Cup.

“My working with Hoddle was borne out of patriotism and my conviction that the right thing must be done. I met Hoddle, who complained that he was asked to part with $500,000 out of his $1.5 million (proposed salary) and that that was the only way to do business in Nigeria,” said Saraki.

“He said some people asked him to quote $1.5 million instead of the $900,000 he asked for.”

Football agent John Ola Shittu, who worked with Hoddle for the Nigeria job disclosed that the country’s anti-corruption body, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), is now investigating this scandal after Saraki and he complained to the head of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) for the World Cup, Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.

“It is high time that criminals parading themselves as sports officials in Nigeria were brought to book,” said Shittu.

Chairman of the technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Taiwo Ogunjobi, challenged Shittu to reveal the identity of the officials who demanded for this massive kickback.

“If he is sure of himself, let him reveal the identity of those who told Hoddle to inflate his salary,” said Ogunjobi, who was on the interview panel to hire a new Nigeria coach.

Another official added: “We were very transparent in the process of engaging a new coach and the scores of all the coaches have been published in the media.”

Former Sweden World Cup coach, Lars Lagerback, was named Nigeria coach late last month after he was rated the best of four other European coaches interviewed for the job. He has signed a contract that is renewable after the World Cup in July.