Oliseh ‘must go’ campaign may consume NFF Technical C’ttee chairman

Sunday Oliseh

We have resolved everything, says Chris Green

THE crisis tearing apart the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), over the recent outburst by coach Sunday Oliseh may be far from over, following allegation by a top official of the federation yesterday that the Technical Committee chairman, Barrister Chris Green, was the one ‘instigating’ the campaign to sack Oliseh.

Ever since Oliseh’s “insane” attack on critics, there had been no love lost between members of the Technical committee and the Super Eagles coach.

Things came to a head on Wednesday, when members of the technical committee, which has eminent Nigerians like Christian Chukwu, Paul Bassey, Victor Ikpeba, Mutiu Adepoju and Garba Lawal allegedly resigned their appointments.

According to a newspaper report, the technical committee members resigned en mass on Wednesday following the refusal by Pinnick to carry out their recommendation, in which they recommended outright dismissal for coach Oliseh.

Pinnick’s decision to run to the Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, who saved Oliseh by asking for a second chance for him, is not going down well with the Technical Committee members, hence their decision to resign en masse.

But a top official of the NFF told The Guardian yesterday that the alleged resignation of the Technical committee members was ‘staged managed’ by the chairman (Chris Green).

The official who spoke on condition of anonymity stated that Pinnick was unhappy with Green for the way he managed the Oliseh saga.

“It is true the Technical committee members wanted Oliseh dismissed after YouTube attack, but we know that such call at this point in time is not in the best interest of Nigeria football.

Sincerely speaking, Pinnick took the right decision by meeting with the sports minister on the issue because the Technical committee members are not the one paying the salary of the coaches.

“Afterall, Oliseh has apologized to Nigerians for his action. Must they call for his sack every time? Some people actually complained to Pinnick that they were not comfortable with his decision to allow Barrister Green come back as the Technical Committee chairman. He is beginning to see things for himself now and I foresee his removal very soon,” the official stated.

Efforts to speak with the NFF president, Pinnick yesterday were fruitless. But the Technical Committee boss, Barrister Chris Green told The Guardian on phone that issues concerning resignation of Technical committee members had been resolved.

“Nobody staged-manage anything,” he said. “In any case, I don’t want to dwell on issues concerning resignation members of the Technical committee members. I am the chairman of the committee and I can tell you now that all my members are back. We have resolved everything,” he added.