TheCable

Within 48 hours of being Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) acting president, Seyi Akinwunmi has told Nigerians to mind their business concerning the day-to-day running of activities at the Glass House.

In a briefing with reporters Thursday at the NFF secretariat, Abuja, since he took over from president Amaju Pinnick who’s on CAF duties at Equatorial Guinea, Akinwunmi expressed his irritation regarding the nosey nature of soccer fans into the affairs of the federation saying what Nigerians should be concerned about is whether they are administering the game properly instead of trying to know what is not meant for public consumption.

“It is not for the public to know what we are doing,” he said.

“The nitty-gritty, day-to-day running of football is not a public business. No, no, no, that is not how football administration should be run. The most important thing is that we are administering football properly.”

Akinwumi spoke specifically on Manchester City’s alleged refusal to release the duo of Kelechi Iheanacho and Chidiebere Nwakali for the 2015 Africa Youth Championship to be hosted by Senegal in March.

“How can we allow our national team to suffer because of one club in whatever country? We can’t allow that, and we don’t need to tell you that we wrote a letter to Man City or we called them to know why they are not releasing the players,” he said.

“That is administrative issue. Does the NNPC tell you if they write letter to OPEC?

“Why does a man in Lagos need to know if NFF has written to Man City or not? We don’t need to do that. The global best practice is what we should start to do in Nigeria and I have no problem with what you are doing by stopping me to ask questions and it is my duty to answer it. All Nigeria football issues are the job of the federation and I assure you that we would not allow any player or team of ours’ to suffer.

“Coming to Iheanacho’s matter, believe me the federation has taken the matter up to ensure we are not short changed,” he said.