Super Eagles ‘B’ left the country on Tuesday night for South Africa, where they are scheduled to campaign in the African Nations Championship. The competition, meant for only players in the domestic leagues of countries in Africa, will kick off on Saturday.
The General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation, Mr. Musa Amadu confirmed their trip.
He said, “They left tonight (Tuesday) and then will connect to Cape Town by Wednesday morning.”
The players left from the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos without signing the code of conduct designed to help enforce discipline in the national teams following the strike the Eagles embarked on last June in Namibia on the way to the FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil.
The Minister of Sports Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi had told that the code of conduct implementation would start with the CHAN competition.
By the arrangement, every player listed for any competition in any of the national teams was expected to sign the written document while keeping a duplicate copy for himself as part of the requirements to be eligible to represent Nigeria. But the CHAN Eagles, who had camped in Abuja in the last one month, could not sign the papers on Tuesday before boarding their flights.
An official of the National Sports Commission said that the players would sign the papers before they kick the first ball in South Africa going by the directive of the minister this week.
The official said, “The minister has directed that they (NFF) send in the document unfailingly on Tuesday for final approval. As soon as it is approved it will be taken to the players in South Africa and they have to sign it before they play their first match.
“There has to be a clear cut code to guide every player and officials in camp as the country has been embarrassed too many times in the past as it was a free-for-all kind of system. The rules have to be made very clear and anybody who does not agree with such rules can then opt out if he so desires.”
The Segun Adeniyi-led draft committee had submitted a working document to the sports ministry, which was fine-tuned and then sent to the NFF to make the final input. The NFF is now billed to send in the final detail to the minister to sign for implementation.
The NFF officials and Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi will leave for South Africa after the African Player of the Year award programme holding in Lagos on Thursday.
Eagles will open their campaign on Saturday against Mali in Cape Town.
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