Ogunjobi blasts Adokiye
Ogunjobi blasts Adokiye
Posted: 2009-11-02 13:14
NFF Executive committee member Taiwo Ogunjobi has accused former international Adokiye Amiesimaka of 'having an agenda' after the former Green Eagles winger claimed in his weekly column that Nigeria Under-17 captain Fortune Chukwudi is over aged.
Fifteen players from Nigeria's team were dropped in the run-up to the tournament after they failed to pass an MRI age-verification test.
Chukwudi was one of those who passed, but his age has been called into question by Adokiye, who says the player turned out for him as an 18-year-old seven years ago.
The claim has left Ogunjobi, chairman of the Federation's Technical Committee, fuming.
"He is just looking for a way to discredit Nigerian football," Ogunjobi flared.
"People like him, we know their plans. They are not after the interest of the country. They just want to discredit those who are there now so they can come in and take over."
""Real Under-17s should be in school or just passing out, and not men who have been playing in the League for years."
- Adokiye Amiesimaka
Addressing the key question of Chukwudi's age, Ogunjobi reiterated that the player passed the MRI test, and not just once.
"Regarding this set of players, we have the confidence that none of them is over aged," he told KickOffNigeria.com.
"They did the MRI test both in Nigeria and in Doha when they went for the training camp and they all passed. We did not just rely on the test we did in Nigeria.
"In fact, just to be sure, we took three of the players who failed originally so that they could do the test again and they still failed.
"I can assure you that if we do the test again, all our players will pass."
Ogunjobi went on to question Amiesimaka's sanity.
"How can a sane person be writing something like that at this time? They are just surprised that the team is doing well and they are looking for a way to discredit Nigerian football."
But Amiesimaka responded by saying the current article is only one in a long list he has been writing calling for sanity in the country's age-grade system.
"I have written over 200 articles and even this one is part of a series that i started a few weeks ago, so how can anyone say I have not been speaking out?
"I recall clearly that during that time, we played a friendly match against the Flying Eagles, who were camping in Port Harcourt at the time in preparation for a qualifier, and Fortune was one of my prominent defenders then.
"In fairness to him, he looks as young now as he did then."
Adokiye went on to accuse the football leadership of failing in their responsibilities to clean up age cheats from the football system.
"We should actually ask those in the leadership of sports why they have done nothing against this age-cheating thing," he pointed out to KickOffNigeria.com.
"They have consistently failed in their responsibility to ensure that we comply with the eligibility rules.
"Real Under-17s should be in school or just passing out, and not men who have been playing in the League for years.
"Why can’t they organise competition to get these talented players to represent the country?"
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