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| *Maigari, Nigeria FA boss |
In a statement in Abuja, the NFF declared
that the entire claim by Perumal was nothing more than ‘distinct
fiction’ and insisted that the true heroes of Nigeria’s qualification
for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals were the Federal Government, the NFF,
players and coaches of the Super Eagles and the generality of Nigeria
ball fans.
“We have gone through the fictitious
write-up by the Singaporean, who was fittingly convicted for his
nefarious activities and has spent time in jail. The NFF will only say
at this moment that there was no truth to the claim and that we had
nothing to do with Perumal all through the Super Eagles’ qualifying
series for 2010 FIFA World Cup.
“Perumal’s statements are a hogwash and
have no legs to stand on. We have ordered for the book itself with a
view to digesting it and looking critically at it. If the book impugns
on the image of the Nigeria Football Federation, our players and the
larger image of our dear country, we will take appropriate action,” NFF
General Secretary, Barrister Musa Amadu said on Tuesday.
Amadu said that further enquiries should
be directed to world football-governing body, FIFA, since the match was a
FIFA competition qualifier.
Nigeria overhauled Tunisia, Kenya and
Mozambique in the final rounds of the qualification series to reach the
first FIFA World Cup finals to be staged on African soil, in 2010.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Federation has said it is
considering legal actions against same Singaporean Wilson Raj Perumal over the claim in his book Kelong Kings that he
helped Nigeria qualify for 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
NFF General Secretary, Musa Amadu, in a statement, said in
Abuja that Perumal has no credibility whatsoever, adding that after a
careful study of the book and its claims of fixing matches for Nigeria
to be at the tournament, the federation will then decide on
legal steps to clear its name and that of the country.
“We have seen the book and the comments
claiming that Nigeria was helped to have qualified for the 2010 World
Cup. We will look at the book and the insinuations that are there and
honestly we will comment on them.
“Let me state from onset, that this
fellow is somebody who has been sentenced for match fixing, obviously he
is not a credible person and there is no way that Nigeria was involved
in any match fixing whatsoever getting to the 2010 World Cup, and since
the good name of Nigeria had been mentioned, we will look at it and then
see how we are going to react both in terms of any libelous items that
might have been said about Nigeria and the Super Eagles players. It is
not something we will take lying low and if we have to do what we have
to do to clear the name of Nigeria, we will certainly do that” Amadu
said.
The disgraced match fixer said he helped
both Nigeria and Honduras to pick tickets to the 2010 World Cup that
was held on the African soil by paying some federations and some players
to determine the result of matches.
According to him, an unnamed official
from Nigeria who was the go-between had assured him that he will through
his personal company known as Football 4U arrange three warm up matches
for the Super Eagles before the World Cup and paid a fraction of the
FIFA grant which the world body pays to the federations for
preparations.
Perumal had also claimed that he got three
players in his payroll to ensure Nigeria win in one of their qualifiers,
and paid out $100,000 as bonus to Mozambique FA to at least to hold
Tunisia to a barren draw to prevent them overtaking Nigeria, but
surprisingly Mozambique defeated Tunisia 1-0 which made it easier for
Nigeria to fly to South Africa.
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