Ex-international Daniel Amokachi has alleged that Nigerian youth are levied up to a tune of Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (N250,000) to be selected to represent their fatherland Nigeria at U-17 National team cadre.
Speaking at an event with the coalition of Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, operating under the aegis of National Support Groups for Good Governance, NASUGG, protesting in support of war against corruption in Abuja, as reported by Vanguard , the Bull as he is nicknamed pinpointed that corruption has eaten deep into sports in the country.
“My name is Daniel Amokachi. I have said I will support the movement, because in my field which is sports, corruption is endemic.
“Corruption has invaded sports so deeply that even in FIFA headquarters in Zurich, we saw how the world stood up and said.
“Enough is enough!” We saw how the president, Sepp Blatter was not spared. He was removed from office because integrity matters when it comes to the constitution.
“President Buhari is one who doesn’t take nonsense when it comes to fighting corruption. I concur with everything he says.
“For instance, in Nigerian football today, the youths, when invited to the national team, a coach will ask them to bring N250,000 each to get into the U-17 team when he already has the talent. If a person has talent, he should be allowed to showcase what he has in the interest of the nation.
It could be recalled that PageOne.ng recently wrote an article themed ‘Continued Biased Refereeing will kill Nigeria Football League’ buttressing how the football federation in conjunction with the Referee body must take seriously the issue of referee to help the game. Amokachi further noted “A small team cannot win the Nigerian league because all the people in Nigerian football are corrupt. If a referee is bribed and a match is won here, the match cannot be won there.
“The judiciary is not above the law. Mr. President is on a good path’’, he said.
Amokachi was former assistant manager of the Nigeria national football team and currently the manager of Finnish 2nd division side JS Hercules. It remains to be seen what this allegation will generate into both from the coaches who have at one point in time handled the National team and the Nigerian Football Federation itself.
While he was handling the super Eagles as the assistant coach can he swear that he never took bribe or any inducement to invite any player? We all know that things happen that shouldn’t be happening in normal circumstances. Let him who is of no blemish cast the first stone.