Ex-Eagles Player Chidi Nwanu Explodes ‘There Was Bribe-taking’

Former Nigeria international, Chidi Nwanu, has opened up on the politics that shaped Nigeria’s campaign at the USA ’94 World Cup, why Nigeria football has stagnated and steps to take to improve the playing personnel in the national team.

The former central defender in an interview said after the ’88 Olympics, Manfred Hoener left. I was blocked completely because the person I took his place came back and made sure I was never invited again. And that went into a lot of things. When finally this call came, I said, Okwaraji died, I knew what some players said when we came together to talk about his death.

One of the key players opened his mouth inadvisedly to say things that you could charge him with the death of that young man. When you look at somebody that died and you say, “him wan show power. Him wan show say him get power”.

That is stupidity, from somebody who was supposed to be a leader. I took a lot of insults there and one day I will say what I know about the national team. Most of them that were with the team in 1994, were responsible for robbing Nigeria of the World Cup.

They put Nigeria football where it is today. All of you are there looking like you don’t know what is happening. I am not happy that we lost the World Cup. We had everything to win that World Cup.

If I open the World Cup chapter, you won’t go anywhere until Jesus Christ comes. There are a lot of pretenders who lacked the moral discipline otherwise we could have gone far in that World Cup.

We lacked the discipline. And the leaders also failed because they could not organise the team when discipline broke down. In a Senegal ’92 qualifier, I confronted coach Westerhof that I did not come here to be on the bench.

I was sure he had been brainwashed. They must have told him, invite him and put him on the bench, frustrate him and the whole people would say at least you tried.