OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Wednesday 5.50pm.
NIGERIA’s two top football officials will be sacked if the country does not get to the semi-finals of next month’s African Nations Cup, Sports Minister Damishi Sango warned Wednesday.
“It would be a disaster if the Eagles don’t get as far as the semi-finals of the championship,” being co-hosted by Nigeria and Ghana next month, he told reporters in Lagos.
“The president [Olusegun Obasanjo] will hold me personally responsible for any failure and that is why I have set a realistic target for the chairman and secretary-general of the NFA [Nigeria Football Association],” he said.
“They should ensure we play in the semi-finals or else they will be replaced.”
The Super Eagles’ build-up to the Nations Cup has been anything but smooth. A new Dutch coach, Jo Bonfrere, has only just arrived in the country after months of negotiations following the dismissal of his predecessor Thijs Libregts.
Earlier this week, Nigeria announced a provisional squad of 29 players, including 12 who competed at the 1998 World Cup.
Defenders Celestine Babayaro, Godwin Okpara,Taribo West, midfielders Mutiu Adepoju, Finidi George, Garba Lawal, Sunday Oliseh, Augustine Okocha, and strikers Daniel Amokachi, Tijani Babangida, Victor Ikpeba and Nwankwo Kanu are the survivors from France.
Arsenal star Kanu was voted African Footballer of the Year for the second time this month.
Sango said he wanted a weekly progress report on the team ahead of the Nations Cup finals which kick-off in Accra on January 22 and end in Lagos on February 13.
“From now on, I expect them to give me a weekly progress report on the team so that we know exactly where we are going,” he said. — AFP