Former Super Eagles captain, John Obi Mikel, has joined the call for the current board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to resign, saying the members have shown a “worrying lack of ideas” to lead the country’s game forward.

Mikel’s call is coming on the heels of the NFF board members’ refusal to resign as demanded by stakeholders following the free-fall of the game since the board assumed office four years ago.

For over two weeks, Nigerians have been mounting pressure on the Ibrahim Gusau-led NFF board to go after the 10-time African champions, the Super Falcons, who failed to qualify for the 2027 FIFA World Cup.

Before the Falcons, the Super Eagles, Flying Eagles, and other teams had also lost tickets to play in their respective categories of the World Cup.

For Mikel, there is no need to keep the Gusau board after the Super Eagles failed to make it to two World Cups.

Speaking on Joy Sports’ podcast in Ghana at the weekend, Mikel said: “We want changes in the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) because we want to grow our football.

“We haven’t qualified for the past two World Cups, which is a shame. We cannot allow that to happen a third time.

“We have to ensure we get the right people to run Nigerian football to grow and be better.

“We want changes in the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) because we want to grow our football.

“We haven’t qualified for the past two World Cups, which is a shame. We cannot allow that to happen a third time.

“We have to ensure that we get the right people to run Nigerian football to grow and be better.”

According to reports, the Federal Government has allegedly ordered the board to resign to pave the way for the total restructuring of the game’s administration, but so far the members have refused to do that.

A source at the NFF claimed that eight of the members, who were summoned to the Presidency “on the orders of a top official of the presidency” on Friday, refused to sign the resignation orders because “that was not why we went there.”

The source said: “Eight board members went to the presidency, but only seven were allowed to enter because the Akwa Ibom State FA chairman’s name was not on the list of those invited to the meeting.”

“Even the office of the high-ranking presidency official said it had no idea of such a meeting, so we left after a brief interaction with some persons at the presidency. The idea of resigning from the board came up, but the members refused to hear of it.”

Yesterday, an official of the National Sports Commission (NSC) said that the Federal Government was not sentimental in its move to sack the NFF board to pave the way for a more efficient administration of Nigerian football.

He said that in the absence of a board, the secretariat will take charge of the sport in an interim capacity pending the review of the administrative architecture of the game.

The official maintained that there is no witch hunt in the pursuit of change in the country’s football, but rather a chance to press the reset button and re-evaluate things to reposition the game for better results.