Reports that Mikel Obi donated $30,000 to the cash strapped Nigeria U23 Olympics Team is not true. What is, however is that the team Captain and the Chelsea midfielder has paid the transportation expenses incurred by the team since he arrived in Atlanta.
In addition, the Team Nigeria captain has been handling the feeding expenses of the players in camp and it remains unclear if he will be reimbursed by the Nigerian Federation or Sports Ministry
The Dream Team VI players skipped their scheduled workout again over weekend because none of the invited foreign-based professionals agreed to pick up the tab for the hiring of a bus to take the team to the training ground..
On July 27, the Nigeria U23s faced an African XI in a training game, did not train the following day, before returning to the pitch for a workout on Friday, meaning they have only trained once since Wednesday.
A team official (thought to be the Media Officer Timi Ebikagboro) has told the local media with pride that they have changed to a better hotel pending their departure today but conveniently left out the fact that they had to check out of the hotel on the same day they were due to fly out to Rio or they would have been bundled out of the premises.
Without mincing words, the players said they are suffering in camp and nobody should expect a miracle from them when the Games begin this week.
However, Obi has denied media reports that he donated 30,000 dollars to his teammates in the U23 team presently camping in Atlanta, USA.
Speaking from the team’s camp, the Super Eagles captain was furious: “I was first told of this unfortunate story by a friend who called me from Nigeria. I thought he was joking until he sent me the link.
“I don’t know the source of this story which to me is all out to divide us as a team. I would have thought that stories that should be coming out in the media are stories that will unite the team instead of dividing us. Our target in Rio is to excel, but if they continue like this, then I wonder how we can be united.”
Wondering why the writer thinks that the players are hungry and need his money, Mikel asked: “Tell me the players who are in this team that are so hungry that will be looking up to me for survival? Is it (William) Ekong, (Oghenekaro) Etebo, (Shehu) Abdulahi, (Daniel) Akpeyi, (Kingsley) Madu, (Okechukwu) Azubuike or (Stanley) Amuzie, who are my teammates in the Super Eagles, that I will be donating to, or other players who are plying their trade abroad and are doing well for themselves? To me, this is just mere distraction that won’t help this team going into a major tournament like the Olympics.”
The Chelsea FC ace then appealed to the sporting press and Nigerians generally to rally round the team and wish the players and officials well as they get ready for the men’s football tournament of the Rio Olympics.
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