Femi Solaja
The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), monday confirmed that late former Super Eagles coach, Amodu Shaibu, was being owed two-month salary.
The revelation was a confirmation that most of the coaches that have been on the employment of the federation in the last few years are still been owed.
Against a backdrop of reports that the federation was owing late Amodu and Stephen Keshi who died three days before the former BCC Lions gaffer, NFF yesterday clarified the issue to end unnecessary speculations.
General Secretary of the NFF, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, confirmed on the federation’s official Twitter handle, @The NFF, that Amodu was been owed two months salaries just like every other management staff at the Glass House in Abuja.
The revelation put to rest speculations in a section of the sporting press claiming that Amodu was being owed seven months wages.
Sanusi said: “Every member of NFF management is being owed salaries for two months. The NFF will pay all monies due late Amodu to his family.
Amodu who died early hours of Saturday in his sleep was buried same day according to Muslim rite.
He is the only senior coach to take charge of the Super Eagles on five occasions starting with the 1994 handling of the Eagles after Clemens Westerhof left after the debut at the World Cup in USA. He returned for another spell leading Eagles to the King Fahd Cup (now FIFA Confederation Cup) 1995.
Amodu was again in-charge in 1997, 2001 and 2002 and then replaced German Berti Vogts after AFCON 2008 in Ghana.
Just like it happened in 2002 when he qualified Nigeria for the World Cup hosted jointly by Korea and Japan and was denied the chance to lead the team, fate again was cruel to the Okpella-born coach in 2010 when he was dumped for Swede Lars Lagerback after getting the ticket for Eagles outing at the first World Cup to be hosted on African soil.
Meanwhile, Official sponsor of Nigerian national teams, Globacom, has expressed grief on the sudden death of Amodu.
The company in a press statement in Lagos on Monday described the death of Amodu as unfortunate and sad; especially happening barely three days after the country lost another former coach, Stephen Keshi.
The deaths of the two legends in such a short space of time, Globacom noted, were quite saddening, adding that the sports community and Nigeria as a whole had been robbed of two icons.
Globacom stated that Amodu left indelible footprints on Nigerian football, and that his outstanding contributions to the development of the round leather game in the country would be remembered for a long time.
“Globacom commiserates with his family, the Nigerian Football Federation and the entire Nigeria Football Community on the death of Amodu, and prays that Allah will grant him Aljannah Firdaus”, the statement concluded
