According to Daily Post, a former coach of Nigeria’s national football team, the Super Eagles, Sunday Oliseh, has revealed the names of three players that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) told him not include in the team when he was appointed the coach of the team.  

The 49-year-old Oliseh, who managed the national team for just seven months, from July 2015 to February 2016, stated this in an interview with Elegbete TV.

He named the three players as Vincent Enyeama, John Obi Mikel, and Emmanuel Emenike.

The former coach said:

“The three players the NFF had the most problems with, they told me, were Enyeama, John Obi Mikel, and Emmanuel Emenike.”

He also revealed how the NFF wanted to stop some players from representing the country.

Speaking in the interview, the former coach said the NFF told him told him the team didn’t not qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON because of problems with certain players in the team, adding that these players players also gave the previous coach, Stephen Keshi, so many problems. 

According to him, the Glass House then instructed him not to invite any of these players to the team. 

He, however, said he told the NFF that having been the captain of the national team himself during his playing days, he understood that it wasn’t easy to work with the NFF. 

He, however, said he told the NFF that having been the captain of the national team himself during his playing days, he understood that it wasn’t easy to work with the NFF. Consequently, he said he requested permission to meet the affected players himself. 

The ex-midfield maestro said:

“I said, in all fairness to the players, what I would do is this: I begged the NFF; I said, ‘Look, let me talk to them; let me try to get them on board. Let me share my philosophy with them. And let’s see how it goes.’

“When this happened, I called the captain of the team, which was Enyeama. With my assistant coach, I took my car and went to his place.”