The under-fire Super Eagles coach will continue despite growing calls for his sack after his team's disastrous outing in Rwanda and his video diatribe against critics
Sports minister Solomon Dalung has backed Sunday Oliseh to remain as the head coach of the Super Eagles despite the increasing calls for his sack, Goal can reliably report.
On Monday, media reports had claimed that the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation who were gutted by the 41-year-old’s acrid comments had written the sports ministry demanding his instant sack.
Goal learnt that the NFF Technical Committee are increasingly furious, hence they recommended the sack of Oliseh largely for negative utterances including claims that he never begged for the job in a YouTube video.
The Super Eagles crashed out at the group stage of the 2016 African Nations Championship in Rwanda. Thereafter, several displeased Nigerians begun a campaign for the dismissal of the ex-international after barely seven months in charge.
Though analysts have kept asking questions about his competence, the former Juventus midfielder blamed non-payment of salaries and bonuses as the reasons for the team’s early exit.
But a source in the sports ministry informed Goal that the minister believes Oliseh deserves a chance to improve on pass mistakes and build a stronger national team.
"The Minister (Solomon Dalung) has frowned at moves to sack the Super Eagles coach," the source said.
"He has insisted that Oliseh must continue because the ministry will not support the sack of any national coach on the grounds of losing a game or not winning a competition.
"The minister thinks it’s uncalled for because he believes that the sack of a coach is not the best answer in this situation.
"It is not also the best way to build a team, instead the coach needs such outings to learn and get better on the job.”
Whether Oliseh's sack letter had been submitted to the sports ministry, the source refuted the report and explained that it was yet to receive such a notice from the NFF.
"It is not true. The minister is yet to get such a letter. Not even the ministry of sports has received such notice from the NFF, so it's not true," the source concluded.
What happens next is unclear but the backing of the sports ministry will be a huge boost for Oliseh's future against the increasing clamour for his sack.
But this development might have fueled his deteriorating relationship with the NFF with crucial Africa Cup of Nations 2017 qualifying games against Egypt next month.
In recent developments, NFF president Amaju Pinnick spoke on a radio show on Tuesday night and said the NFF has agreed to help the coach prosecute the upcoming games with Egypt in order that the team may qualify for Afcon 2017.
Pinnick spoke at length about the embarrassment that Oliseh caused the federation and Nigeria as a whole with his YouTube outburst on Classic FM.
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