Samson Siasia, the head coach of the Nigeria U-23 men’s football team at the 2016 Rio Olympics, has refuted Mikel Obi’s claim that he paid for the fight tickets that took the team to the competition.
In a recent chat on a podcast with Peter Crouch, former
England striker, Mikel claimed he funded the team’s journey from their camp in
Atalanta, US, to Manaus in Brazil for the Olympics.
Mikel said “somebody was sitting on top of that money,
didn’t release that money”, and he had to intervene after arranging for a new
plane with Siasia.
The former Chelsea midfielder then added that, nine years
later, he has not received a refund from the administrators.
Reacting to Mikel’s claim in an interview with Calistus
Ebare of the African Independent Television (AIT), Siasia challenged his former
trainee to present the receipts of the payments.
The coach said Delta Airline flew the team to Brazil “for
free”.
Siasia added that Mikel stepped in to settle some bills at
the hotel, but not the flight to the competition.
“Mikel didn’t pay for any flight. When we had some issues in
the hotel and we needed to settle some bills, I think he did pay for some of
the hotel bill. But the flight, he didn’t pay for it. Delta Airline flew us to
Brazil for free.
“Mikel should stop saying this. If he has a receipt to that
effect, let him show us.”
The Olympic Eagles’ preparation for the Rio Olympics was
marred by controversy, and the team did not arrive in Brazil until less than
six hours before their first game of the competition.
The team, however, impressed at the tournament, winning a
bronze medal.
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