No plan to drag Oliseh to court, says NFF

There may be no iota of truth in news making the round that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), would drag former Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh before FIFA and the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS), over his resignation last Friday.

Oliseh shocked many Nigerians by ending his romance with the Super Eagles after seven months, prompting insinuations in some quarters that the NFF had asked their lawyers to study his contract and come up with possible areas he (Oliseh) breached the contract that will guide them in dragging him before FIFA and the Court of Arbitration.

However, the secretary general of the NFF, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, told The Guardian yesterday that the federal had no intention of going to court with Oliseh.

Sanusi was in Zurich for the just concluded FIFA election alongside NFF President Amaju Pinnick and the federation’s first vice president, Seyi Akinwunmi when Oliseh threw in the towel.

“What for? Sanusi asked. “We have put the issue of Oliseh’s resignation behind us and we have to move on. I don’t see any reason why we should waste our time dragging Oliseh to court. It is not good for our image as a football federation,” Sanusi added.

Oliseh was said to have collected his backlog of salaries and allowances before throwing in the towel. Some aggrieved NFF officials were reported to have pointed out that payment of his accommodation funds and coaching the Super Eagles from Belgium were some of the areas Oliseh breached the contract.

“The Lawyers are going to come up with those breaches but you know that he resigned with immediate effect without giving us the mandatory one month notice. He coached the Eagles from Belgium and it was explicitly stated in the contract that he must coach the team based in Nigeria. He already collected money for his accommodation when he never stayed here. It is left for lawyers to come up with the breaches”, an unnamed NFF official was quoted as saying shortly after Oliseh resigned.