Emem Eduok has been sent packing from Nigeria Team B training camp following his transfer Debacle.
Tunisian club Esperance confirmed on Monday that the top Glo Premier League marksman has penned a three-and-a-half-year contract after successful negotiations with Nigerian club Dolphins FC.
But this development came on the heel of an earlier agreement between the striker and Sarpsborg 08 in mid-December, when he informed the Norwegian club that his economic rights were owned by A&B Academy.
“We’re not happy with the cloud of controversy over his transfer issue,” Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Amaju Pinnick said. “(It is )a terrible distraction to the team and Nigeria.”
“Telling him to leave the camp does not mean we are indicting him. We will carry out an investigation and whoever is found guilty, be he/she an agent or player manager or an official of his club, will be duly sanctioned.”
The Super Eagles are billed to take on Cote d’Ivoire and Sudan in an international friendlies in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) later this month.
They will depart the shores of Nigeria on Thursday for Abu Dhabi, where they will take on Cote d’Ivoire on January 12 and Sudan on January 16.
In the meantime, Pinnick has mandated the chairman of technical and development committee, Felix Anyansi-Agwu, to conduct an investigation into the matter and report back to the executive committee at its meeting in Lagos on Thursday, according to a statement by the NFF’s assistant director communications, Demola Olajire.
The NFF President added: “We have to do this (send the boy out of camp) to serve as a deterrent to others. We are not blaming the player for anything yet; investigation will unravel who is guilty. But the distraction and controversy the matter has generated is not good for the camp.”
The domestic league footballers, under the tutelage of assistant coach Daniel Amokachi, fought back from 2-1 down to beat NYSC FC 5-2 in a warm-up match in Abuja on Monday.
