The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has come under fire after allegations emerged that it diverted government funds meant to pay the Super Eagles’ outstanding bonuses, forcing the team to boycott training ahead of the clash with Gabon in Morocco.
Nigerian sports journalist, Osasu Obayiuwana revealed on Monday morning that the total amount owed to the players was just over $130,000; money due for victories against Lesotho in Polokwane and the Benin Republic in Uyo.
According to Osasu, his source provided documentary evidence showing that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) had already received sufficient funds from the Federal Government to clear all outstanding debts to the national team.
The source showed Obayiuwana a letter signed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu authorising the release of funds to the NFF to settle the backlog of payments owed to the Super Eagles and other national teams.
Crucially, the National Sports Commission (NSC) issued written instructions to the NFF stating that the players’ entitlements, both past and future, were to be treated as a “first- line charge” on the released government funds, meaning they were to be paid before any other expenditure.
Yet the NFF allegedly diverted the money to other “internal matters,” leaving the players unpaid and triggering last Tuesday’s training boycott in Morocco.
Team captain William Troost-Ekong initially announced the industrial action on social media, only to later declare the issue “resolved” after the outstanding bonuses were paid in cash directly to the players in Rabat.
Obayiuwana reports that the emergency payment was privately sourced by the National Sports Commission outside its normal budget, highlighting the depth of the crisis.
The journalist called on NFF President Ibrahim Musa Gusau and General Secretary Dr. Mohammed Sanusi to publicly explain why the federation ignored the explicit “first-line charge” directive from the NSC.
In a swift response on X (formerly Twitter), Dr. Sanusi dismissed the allegations as “falsehood,” stating:
“Osasu, the information you have is not true, and whoever provided it is incorrect. I am saying this authoritatively in the public domain.”“I am tired of seeing falsehood about the NFF, making people believe what is not correct.”
When pressed by Osasu to provide the NFF’s version of events, Sanusi replied:
“I can’t be explaining things here. It is administratively wrong. We will correctly do the needful.”
The NFF has not issued an official statement addressing the specific claims of misallocation of government funds earmarked for the Super Eagles.
The incident is yet another embarrassing chapter in the long-running saga of unpaid bonuses and allowances that has repeatedly disrupted Nigeria’s senior men’s national team preparations for decades.
