Nigeria presidential hopeful Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa has blamed the country's football governing body (NFF) for the Super Eagles failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The Super Eagles failed to qualify due to the away goal ruling, having drawn goalless in Kumasi and played a 1-1 draw at the Moshood Abiola stadium in March.
Arsenal star Thomas Partey opened the scoring of the decisive game after 10 minutes at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.
Nigeria captain William Troost-Ekong converted a penalty to draw the Super Eagles level after a VAR decision in the 22nd minute.
However, Ohuabunwa, who is bidding for the presidency under the People Democratic Party (PDP) has blamed the Nigeria Football Federation for the World Cup heartbreak.
“Frankly, I refused to watch that particular encounter life because sometimes, I don’t trust my heartbeat especially when it comes to matches involving Nigeria,” Ohuabunwa, the erstwhile chairman of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), said in Lagos yesterday.“Most often, I only start watching when Nigeria is leading in a particular match at least I would have had some safety margins.
“But it is a big disappointment that the Super Eagles will not be at the Qatar 2022 World Cup and it is even more disappointing that we could not even win at home after we had played goalless draw in the away match against Ghana.
“We were confident that at least we would win at home and finish ahead of them, so it was a big disappointment,” he noted.
“In as much as leadership often takes praises for success, I believe once there is failure, leadership should also take the flaks,” noted the former President of Nigeria-America Chamber of Commerce(NACC).
“It’s a big disappointment and we can’t but blame the sports administrators particularly the NFF because we believed we should have won that game (in Abuja)
“ I don’t see why we shouldn’t have won that game in our own city and in front of our home fans, “ he added.