Nigeria’s Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh, has intervened in the faceoff between Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen and former coach Finidi George to avoid further escalation.
The Guardian reports that a reliable source at the Nigeria Football Federation, revealed that the NFF was angry by Osimhen’s outburst in a video posted online and had ordered a thorough investigation into the matter with the aim of coming hard on the Napoli forward.
There have been calls for Osimhen to be banned from the national team if he does not apologise.
However, according to Guardian, the timely intervention of Senator Enoh, who pleaded with NFF chieftains, to tread with caution has quelled the matter.
Osimhen is yet to tender any formal apology to Finidi, the NFF, and Nigerians for his comments in the video as demanded by many including former Super Eagles goalkeeper, Peterside Idah.
Recall that Finidi was quoted to have said he would not beg Osimhen to play for the national team after he withdrew from Nigeria’s last two 2026 World Cup qualifiers due to injury.
Following the draw with South Africa and loss to Benin Republic, there were reports that Finidi mentioned Osimhen’s absence when talking about players’ bad attitude towards the national team when he and the NFF chiefs met with the sports minister in Abuja.
An angry Osimhen reacted in a live Instagram video, saying he had lost respect for Finidi and opened up on the circumstances that led to his withdrawal from the matches, adding that Finidi was adequately briefed by him and his doctor.
However, veteran sports journalist and former Super Eagles Media Officer Collin Udoh, later explained that that those who were at the meeting told him that Finidi never made the said comments about Osimhen.