Insinuations of a feud between Finidi and Amokachi are false; 'The Bull' rejected the Eagles’ job because NFF offered him a slave’s contract

 By

Oluakyode Thomas

The media, especially social media, has been awash with stories of tension in the Super Eagles camp for the 2026 World Cup qualifier against South Africa on Friday.

Most of the reports claimed Daniel Amokachi boycotted the camp in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State because he did not want to work as an assistant to Finidi George.

Amokachi was one of the assistants announced by the NFF alongside Benjamin James, Olatunji Baruwa, Chima Onyeike, and Mehmet Ozturk after Finidi’s unveiling.

 But the truth is, Amokachi who also applied for the Super Eagles’, rejected the NFF offer not because he abhorred working under Finidi but because the terms of his engagement offered by the football house were nothing but slavery.

A national legend, Amokachi was expected to work under Finidi without any contract and stipulated monthly salary; rather he will be paid just daily allowances whenever the Eagles are in camp and a bonus depending on the team’s performances.

Whenever they win or draw he will get what an assistant coach is entitled to as a bonus and if they lose a match he will go home empty-handed.

Another legend Ike Shoronmu, a goalkeeper trainer, was offered a similar condition on his engagement in the past, and rightly, he rejected it, just like Amokachi fondly called The Bull did.

Nigerians are aghast that a national hero like Amokachi who gave his country his youth when he burst into the national scene as a student of Government College, Kaduna, could be treated so shabbily.

Apart from being a core member of the team that qualified Nigeria for her first FIFA World Cup at the USA’94 edition, Amokachi was also at the France’98 World Cup.

When Nigeria became the first country outside Europe and Latin America to win the prestigious Olympic Games football gold medal, he was an integral part of the team.

In club football, Amokachi notably played in the English Premier League for Everton and was part of their 1995 FA Cup-winning team, he also played top-flight football in both Belgium and Turkey with extended spells at Club Brugge and Beşiktaş.

He scored Brugge's first goal in the UEFA Champions League.

As a manager, he has managed Nasarawa United, Enyimba, Ifeanyi Ubah, and JS Hercules. He has also worked with the Super Eagles as an assistant coach twice, under Shaibu Amodu and Stephen Keshi.

He also managed the national team on an interim basis between 2014 to 2015.

Speaking on the development Adole John said it is a shame that Amokachi who gave his youth to Nigeria was given a slave’s contract by the NFF,

“NFF has the money to pay it General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi, $10,000 monthly but they don’t have money to pay Amokachi.

“Ordinarily, Sanusi should not be running a corner shop but he is today running a giant supermarket called NFF and he is being allowed to mismanage it.

‘’ Secondly, it is only a board headed by visionless Ibrahim Gusau and an inept Sanusi as Chief Executive Officer that will humiliate a national legend with a slave contract, everything is wrong with our football”.