The Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has accused officers of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, of stopping him from greeting Nigeria’s Under-17 ladies’s soccer workforce on the airport, claiming they feared shedding their jobs in the event that they allowed him to strategy the gamers.
Obi mentioned he arrived on the airport at 7 a.m. on Monday to board a flight to Enugu when he noticed the workforce making ready to go away for city.
He mentioned he requested his Protocol Officer, Jackie Wayas, to seek out out if he may greet the gamers however was advised that NFF officers had refused his request.
According to Obi, the officers warned that they might lose their jobs if he approached the workforce.
He additionally recalled an analogous incident on March 25, 2025, when he attended a World Cup qualifier in Uyo.
Obi claimed that though the governor welcomed him on the VIP stand, officers later prevented him from greeting the gamers after the match.
Reacting to each incidents, the presidential candidate described what he skilled as one other instance of what he known as poisonous politics in Nigeria.
“The new Nigeria we aspire to build must have no room for hostility, intimidation, or discrimination, regardless of political affiliation,” Obi wrote.
“It must be a Nigeria in which unity, mutual respect, and our shared humanity take precedence over political differences.”
