Just four months ago, the Super Eagles flattered by going all the way to the final of the delayed 2023 AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire.
The whole nation celebrated even after they were edged by an inspired host nation in the most important game of the tournament and so failed to win a fourth continental title.
President Bola Tinubu was generous to reward the Super Eagles with cash, houses and national honours.
They had overachieved as most Nigerians did not give them a chance to go all the way to the championship game more than 10 years since they last won the tournament in South Africa.
This was The Great Deception.
The hard-fought victories and celebrations at the AFCON masked the many problems facing the Super Eagles that have now come to fore and Nigeria is now faced with the prospect of missing out on the World Cup back-to-back.
For the past 10 years or so, discipline has completely broken down in the team that some players even see themselves as bigger than the country.
They have been pampered and are happy to be Prima Donnas.
Gernot Rohr wanted to take action against some players who were fingered in a sex romp in camp in Lagos before an important game only for his bosses to think otherwise.
At the last AFCON, a particular player was so disruptive in camp that he came to blows with another player.
This same player did the same thing at the 2019 AFCON in Egypt.
He was never called to order and he has since gone completely out of control.
The top stars have been built gradually into monsters and now they are gobbling up those who created them.
Jose Peseiro used a handful of weeks to galvanise a bunch of players to play out of their skin.
He tasked them to put behind the monies they were owed over several years and that they should rather focus on making a name for themselves.
He played on the psyche of the boys and that did the trick.
Four months later, the Eagles are still owed bonuses and allowances from 2021 even after President Tinubu approved 12 Billion Naira to clear these debts.
The players may be well paid at their foreign clubs, but they worked hard for the bonuses and allowances they earned and they ought to be paid.
The recent show of shame on social media has brought back talks of a code of conduct for the Super Eagles when they are in training camp.
But it is a two-way street – the NFF on one lane and the players on the other.
Such a code of conduct must therefore not only list what is expected of the players, but also what are the responsibilities of the NFF as regards these players.
No one should question the commitment of the players, when you have not met your own commitment to them.
Are both the NFF and players now committed to a clean break from the rut that has got the hopes of a whole nation qualifying for the 2026 World Cup hanging so, so precariously?
I am not sure.
Well said,any code of conduct must be two, one for NFF, the other for players, but I dear include this, those that are supposed to lead this players, should stop begging for money from them, some of the indiscipline problems the eagles have is,see finish syndrome,a player cannot give dollars to an official, and you expect the same official to deal with him,if he breaks camp rules,stop 🛑 begging money from this boys,if you do this, manage whatever you get officially from the team,a goalkeeper of the super eagles recently, was a basket,every Ball that comes to him, must enter the net,yet, everyone called an official was quite,as if Nigeria has no other goalkeeper, do I need a soothsayer to tell me, this player has the backing of an official in the team, this allegation is unconfirmed, but, I feel strongly I am not far from the truth