Apart from Kanu Nwankwo, who tweeted on Wednesday morning, calling for caution, ex-Super Eagles captains have been quiet on the trending conflict between Coach Sunday Oliseh and the national team’s goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama.Digital media have been awash with reports and speculations on the fracas between Oliseh and Enyeama, since Tuesday.
For resuming late, Enyeama was reportedly stripped of his captaincy and ordered to leave the Eagles’ camp in Belgium.
Many football lovers have gone on social media urging ex-internationals such as Nwankwo, Austin Okocha and Segun Odegbami to lend their voices to the call on Oliseh to tread with a caution.
In a tweet to Kwankwo, Okocha and Odegami, for instance, a tweeter – Dominic Ajeba – said the manner football stakeholders watched Enyeama being “humiliated” in a foreign country after several years of national service to Nigeria was unfair. He urged respected individuals to call Oliseh to order, saying the conflict was coming at a wrong time.
In his response to the controversy, Nwankwo urged the parties to stop fighting but work together for the success of the team.
“What is this fighting in the Super Eagles’ camp for? Please, we don’t need this; what we need is to work together to win coming matches. Let us make peace please,” the ex-Arsenal forward said in a solo tweet.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Nwankwo, who played with the embattled skipper as well as Oliseh during his football days, was the only person that responded to the call, at least, on social media.
Perhaps, fans of Papilo, as the retired soccer star is fondly called, were not satisfied with his passive comment on the fracas. His response was a departure from the critical views that dominated the discussion.
On his part, Odegbami, who also captained the country’s national football team in the 80s, has yet to make his position known to agitated tweeters. Odegbami, a FIFA presidential aspirant who announced his return to Twitter on Sunday, has not made any comment, much less taking a definite position.
Also in the category of Nwankwo and Odegbami is Okocha, one of the country’s most popular soccer stars among youths. Okocha, who describes himself as a football magician on Twitter, has not posted any info since September 10.
Not even the growing pressure for a word from him and his friends has compelled the former captain to join the debate.
Current footballers have also ignored the captaincy tussle on social media which serve as digital diaries for the majority of them.
As of 3pm on Wednesday when our correspondent checked social media pages of Mikel Obi, Peter Odemwingie, Obafemi Martins, Victor Moses, Ikechuwu Uche, Kenneth Omeruo and even Onazi Ogenyi, who was tweeting from Belgium, there were no remarks showing solidarity with either party in the disagreement.
Despite a denial by the National Football Federation that Enyeama has not lost his captainship, Oliseh reportedly confirmed on Wednesday that the skipper had, indeed, been replaced with a teammate, Ahmed Musa.
“Going forward, I need a player who is regular in the team. And it is Ahmed Musa, who did a great job in Tanzania under very difficult circumstances,” Oliseh reportedly told Brila FM.
He added, “He (Musa) is the captain of the team, not somebody who is thinking of retirement. A captain has to lead by example. We are not here to build stars.
“If you don’t conform to what I am trying to do, we will be friends; but we will be friends from afar. There has been a new government and the President has picked new ministers. That is what I have also done.”
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