Oviri Kelvin, Sports Editor, Abuja
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) says Salisu Yusuf possesses the technical abilities to lead the Super Eagles Team B to victory having worked with a series of Nigerian senior men’s team coaches.
The NFF through its Vice President and Chairman of Local Management Company (LMC), Shehu Dikko refuted the allegations engulfing the social media criticizing the appointment of Salisu after he was indicted for bribery and corruption, The Trumpet gathered.
Dikko on Arise TV, said Salisu was never found guilty of bribery but only broke the code of ethics by collecting a gift from someone who intended to influence the team’s selection.
He said, “Well, I think for us we find it very, very amusing to say the least because this thing keeps coming up over and over again, anytime Salisu Yusuf is getting a job, either with a club or even with the national tea
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“And yes, he made an error of judgement which he has paid for it. This is going to be around his name for the rest of his life. But the fight is that people need to be fair and analyze the whole matter. Because part of the complaint when you look at the social media and the internet, and the news is that a coach has been banned for bribery for this, for that, which is not factual.
“That was not the issue that he was banned with. He was charged with those offenses, but at the end of the day, he was only found guilty by the committee of taking a gift, which was considered to be far and above what the court of ethics will allow. And he has served his sentence and has come back to do his work,” he said.
The LMC chairman continued, “infact even after the issue, the NFF actually handed him over to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC) and he was also investigated internally not just on that issue, all issues he has done, both the job he has done, his assets, all his accounts to see whether he was in possession of any asset or revenue or money that he cannot explain.
He came out clean from that investigation because ICPC didn’t find anything with him. That is correct. So he has paid the price and I think we should move forward and let it be because he is still relevant to the system both at club level and national team level,” he added.
