It is disturbing times for Nigerian football again as Super Eagles’ captain, John Mikel Obi had to ensure the Olympic team didn’t get stranded and humiliated in a hotel in Brazil.
The Chelsea player reportedly had to dig into his personal purse to ensure Dream Team VI did not miss their flight to Salvador, bailing the team out with a sum of over $4,000.
‘We just arrived Salvador now from Sao Paolo. We nearly missed our flight because of unpaid bills in the hotel. The hotel held us to ransom,’ a team official told African Football.
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‘The problem is that all the additional officials here in Brazil are the responsibility of the Nigeria Football Federation, who said they will pay for them, but they did not pay for them again.
According to the official, expenses for some delegates, including the team coordinator, the kits manager in charge of players and officials’ kits, and the accompanying assistant director technical were not catered for.
‘A call was put across to the honourable minister of youths and sports, he said we should put the bill in the (credit) card but the card didn’t work. They tried and tried but the minister said that only 18 players and seven officials should be captured as regards payment according to the rules of the Olympic Games.’
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‘So, the hotel bills of these other officials, about five of them cost the sum of over $4,000. They held us hostage for more than one hour and we nearly missed our flight. It was Mikel (Obi) who rescued us by paying the money.’
The Dream Team VI will play Denmark on Saturday August 13, 2016.
