It was gathered that all the players were paid $25,000 except the Enyimba of Aba goalkeeper.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has allegedly failed to pay goalkeeper John Noble, a member of the Super Eagles squad to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, his match allowances and winning bonuses, despite the fact that other members of the team had been paid.
It was gathered that all the players were paid $25,000 except the Enyimba of Aba goalkeeper.
This was made known by a veteran sports journalist, Shina Oludare in a series of tweets he made on Friday morning.
According to him, the Nigerian National Football Team captain, Ahmed Musa, lied when he stated that the reason Noble was not paid was that he provided incorrect account information.
He said, “Dear @Ahmedmusa718, you told @osasuo that John Noble dropped a wrong dollar account and as such, he could not get his 25,000 dollars (Afcon 2021 bonuses). That is 100% false! How come he got his daily camp allowances (Afcon 2021) in that same account?
Dear @Ahmedmusa718, you told @osasuo that John Noble dropped a wrong dollar account and as such, he could not get his 25,000 dollars (Afcon 2021 bonuses). That is 100% false! How come he got his daily camp allowances (Afcon 2021) in that same account?
— Shina Oludare 🇳🇬 (@sportingshina) December 23, 2022
“Dear @Ahmedmusa718, just so to let you know that Noble never dropped a wrong account number at any given time. Of course, there could be bank issues and I understand that other five players had same challenge.
“Noble was first called up in March 2021 for Benin/Lesotho Afcon qualifiers. He got his dues in that same dom account. For other international engagements, NFF paid him through that same account. However, when it came to paying the big one, he was told he sent a wrong (sic) details.”
“Of course, from the concrete evidences (sic) I have, Noble has been told that he would never be called up for international engagements in future. That is okay! Very understandable, but this 25k dollars? He must be paid. He worked for it,” he added.
When SaharaReporters contacted NFF Media Officer, Ademola Olajire on the phone, he said, “I believe they are already working on it for him. There are circumstances. He didn’t have a dollar account, so many things. I think he has not been paid. He would be paid shortly. That is what they told me.”
But when told that it would be wrong to say Noble didn’t have a dollar account because NFF paid all his daily camp bonuses in the same account he submitted for the $25,000, Olajire said, “I have answered your question.”
Non-payment of players and staff’s entitlements is not strange in the Nigerian football arena. For instance, The Nigerian Football Federation admitted in November that it owed Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro his salaries.
The media had reported that the Portuguese manager was owed six months’ salaries.
Peseiro, 62, who was appointed in May, signed a one-year performance-based contract with the federation on a reported $70,000 monthly salary.