Former Nigeria international, Mutiu Adepoju, has said President Bola Tinubu deserves big commendation for rewarding the Super Eagles in spite of the fact that the coach Jose Peseiro-led side failed to win the much-desired fourth Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) at Cote d’Ivoire 2023.
In the tournament’s final match played last Sunday at the Alassane Quattara Stadium in Abidjan, the Super Eagles surrendered to a 2-1 defeat to the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire as Nigeria lost her fifth AFCON Final Match in history.
Defeat notwithstanding, President Tinubu conferred national awards of Member of the Order of the Niger (MON) on all the players and their officials, as well as President of NFF, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, and the NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi. While all the 25 players and their officials were also gifted a flat each in the Federal Capital Territory, as well as a plot of land each also in the Federal Capital Territory.
“Yes, it’s good they have been rewarded for reaching the final, though the final is meant to be won,” Adepoju, an AFCON Bronze medallist at Senegal in 1992 and gold medal winner at Tunisia 1994, said in an interview on Football Frenzy on Nigeria Info in Abuja. “But, unfortunately, they couldn’t win it and this was what happened to us too in 2002 when we lost in Lagos to Cameroon. Nevertheless, I think they did their best as they made it to the final.
“Being rewarded, I think they deserve it and one needs to thank the President (Bola Tinubu) for having that thought of rewarding them.
“By rewarding them, I believe it will cheer them up for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers and also the 2025 AFCON Qualifiers, and this will encourage and gear them up for these important coming matches.”
Adepoju said he had no reason to doubt whether the Super Eagles will get both the flat and landed property, saying that President Tinubu is not the kind of person to make a pledge without fulfilling it in time.
He recalled the pains his 1994 winning squad had to endure before they were giving the houses promised, adding that the current Super Eagles are lucky indeed.
“Yes, we got the houses, but some of us just got the keys to the houses two years ago despite the fact that it was promised in 1994,” the 53-year-old former Racing Santander midfielder further said. “Some got their own in 1994, but some of us who did not pick Abuja got our own houses not too long ago because the keys were given to us about two years ago.
“For winning the silver in 2000, we were not given anything neither were we honoured.
“Well everybody works and your intention is to win and if it didn’t happen, it’s just unfortunate; we wanted the honour but it didn’t come and there’s nothing we can do about it.
“So, no bad feeling about it because it was our job; and we really enjoyed doing it, but it was just unfortunate that we didn’t win the AFCON in 2000.
“We came back from 2-0 and then lost by penalty shoot-out. It was unfortunate because we wanted to get the third AFCON; it wasn’t meant to be, no argument and no problem about that.”
Yet, Adepoju is confident that the current Super Eagles would not have to endure torrid time before getting their flat and land pledges under the current dispensation of President Tinubu.
“Well, I am very sure the president will deliver his promise because he is someone that always keeps to his promises,” Adepoju said.
Reflecting on the Peseiro-led Super Eagles’ missed opportunity of emulating the illustrious players that won the AFCON in 1980, 1994 and 2013, Adepoju said as a Nigerian, he was also disappointed.
He said: “I think everybody was disappointed because we were supposed to have our fourth AFCON, you know looking at Nigeria. Nigeria is a big country in Africa and we are supposed to be at a higher level and everybody believed we were going to get our fourth one.
“Egypt has won the AFCON seven times and Ghana four times but it was unfortunate we could not win our fourth title in Cote d’Ivoire.
“We just have to be realistic and say the truth, we did not play well to the level or standard that we have been known to play. We missed all that in the final and that was why Cote d’Ivoire was able to outplay us.
“Looking at the game in many aspects, I don’t think we scared or did anything against the Ivorians except the goal that we scored. They kept coming at us and we kept losing the ball; so, tactically, we didn’t do well.”
Pressed on the desirability of Portuguese coach Peseiro to continue leading the Super Eagles post AFCON, Adepoju, who represented Nigeria at three AFCONs and FIFA World Cups, deflated the question, adding that the buck should stop at the desk of the NFF.
“I think this question should go to NFF because they have the power to decide the level they want us to be playing and how they want it to be,” Adepoju, fondly called the Headmaster in his heyday, averred
“But from what I have seen, I think our players have the quality to play better than they did at the AFCON, and the question of whether the contract of the coach should be renewed or not should not come from me, but the NFF because they are in a position to decide where they want our football to be,” he stated.