Nigeria Football Federation has dismissed a report stating that it cannot fly the Super Eagles to Zambia for a World Cup qualifier as “blatant falsehood.”
The NFF officials who reacted on Wednesday via several channels including Twitter said they were dismayed by the report credited to anonymous officials suggesting that the federation could not take the national team to Zambian because of the recession.
NFF President Amaju Pinnick said, “We have concluded arrangements on movement to and from Zambia. Any talk of being unable to go is a big lie.” NFF’s Director of Communication, Ademola Olajire who spoke with The PUNCH on Wednesday said it was appalling that such could be written of the federation and the national team.
He said, “Nigeria has not fallen to such level that Eagles cannot fly to Zambia to honour a match; a World Cup qualifying match for that matter. We have official channels including a very functional website and so people should only rely on what is on the official sites.
“The President (NFF) has never said any where that the team could not travel and no member of the federation has ever said so. It’s all lies and calculated attempt to discredit the NFF and the Nigerian government.”
Zambia will host Nigeria October 9 in the opening game in the qualifying race to Russia 2018. Eagles are billed to arrive in the East African country on the 8th for the match billed for Ndola.