After several weeks of controversy between the Chief Coach of Nigeria's National Team, Sunday Oliseh and his employers, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Oliseh, in the early hours of Friday, announced his resignation as Chief Coach of the Super Eagles.
Sunday Oliseh, who announced his resignation on Twitter, said he took the decision due to the inability of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, to honour the terms of his contract.
“Due to contract violations, lack of support, unpaid wages, benefits to my players, assistant coaches and myself, I resign as Super Eagles Chief Coach,” he tweeted.
He thanked Nigerians for the opportunity of serving as the coach of the team in a preceding tweet before announcing his resignation.
“I feel fortunate, blessed and eternally grateful for having the honour to play, captain and coach this great nation of ours, Nigeria.” Oliseh tweeted
Oliseh, whose appointment was made with much fanfare by the NFF, soon started having problems with the executives of the federation over remuneration, match tactics and results. His complaint about being owed was not well received by the NFF, which rather threatened to sanction him.
He also had challenges managing the players. An altercation between the coach and the team’s former captain and the country’s most capped goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama, led to the goalie’s premature resignation from the team last October.
Apparently, the last straw for Oliseh was the woeful outing of the Super Eagles at the CHAN competition in Rwanda, where the team were eliminated in the first round. Following widespread criticisms that greeted the team’s elimination, a Youtube video soon surfaced in which Oliseh lambasted his critics, referring to them as “insane”.
On Thursday, the NFF directed Oliseh to henceforth report to former coach and the NFF’s technical director, Amodu Shuaibu. In a swift reaction, the NFF denies sabotaging Sunday Oliseh's efforts as Super Eagles Chief Coach and has planned to appoint Samsom Siasia as Interim Chief coach of Super Eagles for the Nigeria-Eygpt AFCON qualifier match scheduled in Kaduna on the March 25, 2016.
In an interview this morning, the embattled tactician has explained succinctly the major reasons for quitting the Super Eagles. Oliseh who had been in a running battle with his employers over what he termed uncondusive working conditions, told Complete Sports Nigeria that he was irked by the underground moves by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) to sack him and the constant violations of his contractual agreement.
He went further to reveal that he was irked by the fact that the President Of the Nigerian Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick tried to hire Frenchman, Herve Renard soon after the Home Eagles crashed out of the group stages of the African Nations Champions.
"They had their motives and what I did was in the best interest of the country. While I was coach of the team they tried to hire Renard who turned them down citing three major reasons.
"When I sought their aid to effectively carry out my duties I was ignored and instead of the helping me getting the players to give their best and placing them in a very good condition at an advantages to the team play, they had plans to derail the progress of the team's chances.
"The most important objective is for the Super Eagles Of Nigeria to qualify to the next AFCON and the World Cup 2018," Oliseh in the wee hours of Friday.
Below is a copy of from the Resignation Letter Sunday Oliseh sent to the NFF.
Dear General Secretary of NFF,
Object: Letter of Resignation.
Due to incessant Violations of our signed agreement (Contract) I am hereby informing you of my decision to terminate our working collaboration signed in July 2015. The most important objective is for the Super Eagles Of Nigeria to qualify to the next AFCON and the World Cup 2018.
Since so little help is being rendered me in getting the players to give their best and very vital conditions and advantages to the team play are also being sacrificed coupled with non redress of the aforementioned despite my several emails and others, seeking your aid to effectively carry out my duties were ignored.
These unconducive working conditions that my coaching crew and myself have to live with, your contractual violations and the interest of the nation necessitates that I tender my resignation and recourse to the termination of our working agreement.
Many thanks for the opportunity to serve my fatherland.
Sunday Oliseh,
Chief Coach Super Eagles of Nigeria.
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