Sunday Oliseh has resigned as Head Coach of the Nigerian football national team, the Super Eagles, just over seven months after he was appointed.
Oliseh, who announced his resignation on Twitter, said he took the decision due to the inability of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, to honour the terms of his contract.
“Due to contract violations, lack of support, unpaid wages, benefits to my players, assistant coaches and myself, I resign as Super Eagles Chief Coach,” he tweeted.
In a preceding tweet before announcing his resignation, Oliseh thanked Nigerians for the opportunity to serve as coach of the national team
“I feel fortunate, blessed and eternally grateful for having the honour to play, captain and coach this great nation of ours, Nigeria.”
Oliseh, whose appointment was made with much fanfare by the NFF, soon started having problems with the executives of the federation over remuneration, match tactics and results.
His complaint about being owed was not well received by the NFF, which rather threatened to sanction him.
He also had challenges managing the players. An altercation between the coach and the team’s former captain and the country’s most capped goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama, led to the goalie’s premature resignation from the team last October.
Apparently, the last straw for Oliseh was the woeful outing of the Super Eagles at the CHAN competition in Rwanda, where the team was eliminated in the first round.
Following widespread criticisms that greeted the team’s elimination, a Youtube video soon surfaced in which Oliseh lambasted his critics, referring to them as “insane”.
On Thursday, the NFF directed Oliseh to henceforth report to former coach and the federation’s technical director, Amodu Shuaibu.
The NFF is yet to respond to his resignation.
Nigerian news outlet the Daily Post posted a copy of Oliseh’s resignation letter which read as follows:
Dear General Secretary of NFF,
Object: Letter of Resignation.
Due to incessant Violations of our signed agreement (Contract) I am hereby informing you of my decision to terminate our working collaboration signed in July 2015
The most important objective is for the Super Eagles Of Nigeria to qualify to the next AFCON and the World Cup 2018.
Since so little help is being rendered me in getting the players to give their best and very vital conditions and advantages to the team play are also being sacrificed coupled with non redress of the aforementioned despite my several e mails and others, seeking your aid to effectively carry out my duties were ignored.
These unconducive working conditions that my coaching crew and myself have to live with, your contractual violations and the interest of the nation necessitates that I tender my resignation and recourse to the termination of our working agreement.
Many thanks for the opportunity to serve my fatherland.
Sunday Oliseh
Chief Coach Super Eagles of Nigeria
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Source: Premium Times/ The Daily Post