The President, Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick has apologised for the mistake that led to punishment of the Super Eagles by FIFA.
The world football governing body said that Nigeria erred by fielding defender Shehu Abdullahi who should have been suspended against Algeria. The game ended 1-1.
In a statement published on its website, FIFA fined the Super Eagles 6,000 Swiss francs (over N2 million) and awarded the game 3-0 in favour of the North African side.
However, the game did not affect the Super Eagles’ qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, as the Nigerian team had qualified before the game.
But the FIFA sanction had made many Nigerians query the competence of officers of the NFF and the Super Eagles team, and called for punishment for those responsible for the error.
In a statement on his verified Twitter handle, Pinnick apologised for the error, which he said were “unforgivable and could have undone months of hardwork”.
See tweet below:
Good morning. I'll start by tendering my wholehearted apology to Nigeria and Nigerians for the Shehu Abdullahi error. It is unforgivable and could have undone months of hard work. As head of the Federation, I take responsibility for this. It happened on my watch.
— Amaju Melvin Pinnick (@PinnickAmaju) December 13, 2017