Pinnick Calls For Patience, Canvasses Support For Oliseh

NFF President Amaju Pinnick refused to be despondent following Saturday’s 0-0 draw between the Super Eagles and Taifa Stars of Tanzania. Rather, he saw a lot of positives in the result and has called on Nigerians from far and near to exercise patience as new Head Coach Sunday Oliseh gradually steadies his ship.

Nigeria were expected to take three points away from Dar es Salaam on Saturday, but came away with a point as the race to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Gabon gathered steam. Even with the draw, Pinnick remains confident the Eagles will get there.

“It was a good match in the sense that Oliseh has now seen his first set of players, and he has seen the good and the bad ones. If we had been able to play a friendly match before this game, he would certainly have had greater knowledge of each and everyone of his players.

“However, a lot of lessons have been learnt here. The Coach himself would have wanted so much to win, but that is football. I believe the team will get better as we go along.”

Pinnick called on football –passionate Nigerians to remain in solid support of Oliseh as the NFF intends to organize several friendly games to engender bonding among the new players and entrench cohesion and telepathy.

“On our part, we will do our best to arrange a lot of friendly games for the team. I believe the team will be better against Niger Republic in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.

“When you are rebuilding, you have to exercise patience because you have to bring in and take out as the process requires.”

The NFF President hailed the discipline and organization that he saw in the Eagles’ camp in Dar es Salaam.

“As we keep saying, it is not always only about winning. The building of a sustainable football culture is paramount in our administration’s programs. We want to win matches, but we also want to see attitude that projects the nation positively. I am happy with the discipline in the team camp and the organization.

“When there is discipline and dedication, and patriotism, the results will come,” added Pinnick, who pointed out that there were so many debutants in the Eagles’ team that drew in Dar es Salaam.

On a day that Mauritania spanked the Bafana Bafana of South Africa, Liberia beat Tunisia and South Sudan earned victory over Equatorial Guinea, the Super Eagles drew 0-0 with Tanzania and now have four points in the Gabon 2017 race.

Ogunmuyiwa Commends NFF President

Nigerian Referee Jelili Ogunmuyiwa was full of praises for NFF President, Amaju Melvin Pinnick after making history on Sunday as the first Nigerian in decent memory to take charge of a CAF Championship final.

Ogunmuyiwa, was selected by the Confederation of African Football to take charge of the final match of the 2015 African Beach Soccer Championship, between Madagascar and Senegal in Victoria, Seychelles.

An international referee since 2008, Ogunmuyiwa almost missed the tournament as Immigration officials moved to stop him from boarding the flight to Seychelles in Lagos, because he did not have an entry visa into the Indian Ocean Island, venue of the competition.

“I am so, so happy to officiate the final match in Seychelles. It is a dream come true for me. But it would have remained just a dream if not for the intervention of the NFF President, Mr. Amaju Pinnick. He personally intervened with the Immigration people to allow me board the flight to Seychelles, explaining to them that I have a letter from CAF and that I would be given my visa on arrival.

“The NFF President’s personal efforts and that of the new Board are working well for Nigeria football. I want to sincerely appreciate him.”

In Seychelles, Ogunmuyiwa, described by NFF Consultant on Refereeing and FIFA Technical Advisor (Refereeing), Mr Linus Mba as one of the best referees Nigeria can boast of at the moment, was 1^st Referee for the matches between Senegal and Morocco, Ghana and Morocco, Seychelles and Egypt and Morocco and Seychelles, before taking charge of the final, which Madagascar edged 2-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw with Senegal.

On assumption of office at the end of September 2014, the present NFF administration led by Mr. Amaju Pinnick had promised to thoroughly enhance the capacity of Nigerian referees, with a vision to see a Nigerian referee officiate at the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.

Two batches of 10 and 20 referees have gone to the United Kingdom on capacity –building programmes (Ogunmuyiwa was in the second batch in February), with a third batch of 20 to depart for a similar programme next week.

“I must say that the efforts of the new NFF administration are yielding dividends. I have received reports from high quarters that the profile of Nigerian referees is rising,” FIFA Technical Advisor Linus Mba said on Monday. Ogunmuyiwa lectured fellow arbiters at the pre-Season Seminar organized by the NFF early March.

Nigerian referee Ferdinand Udoh was selected to officiate at the 2015 African U-17 Championship in Niger Republic, and assistant referee Abel Baba was also in action at the 2015 African Youth Championship in Senegal.

Referee Joshua Opeyemi Amoo will also lead Peter Edibe, Abel Baba and Abubakar Ago to officiate a CAF Confederation Cup second round, second leg match between ASEC Mimosas of Cote d’Ivoire and Onze Createurs of Mali in Abidjan next week.