Nigeria’s Sports Minister, John Enoh, has stated that handling the recent outburst by Napoli striker Victor Osimhen against former Super Eagles coach Finidi George is not the immediate priority for the Nigeria Football Federation.
Addressing the situation among both African Player of the Year winners on Eagle7 FM Radio on Sunday, Enoh highlighted the need for the NFF to prioritize other pressing issues within Nigerian football, rather than being sidetracked by the Osimhen-Finidi controversy.
“There has been a plethora of opinions on this. Osimhen is a Trojan for Nigeria, but it was a low,”Enoh said.
“I told the NFF not to make a pronouncement on this before they have engaged Osimhen. This is so especially because these are not the best of times for Nigerian football, and we have to manage a lot of things. The NFF have to be focused and not be distracted.”
The controversy began when Finidi was alleged to have questioned Osimhen’s commitment to the national team after the striker missed the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against South Africa and the Benin Republic.
Finidi reportedly said he couldn’t beg Osimhen to play for the team after the player withdrew from the qualifiers due to injury.
In response, Osimhen took to social media, claiming he had communicated his injury status to Finidi and had offered to join the team in camp without having to take to the pitch, which the former coach declined.
Osimhen expressed his frustration, stating, “I knew things like these would happen and that’s why I have the videos and screenshots of when I called Finidi while I was with the doctor in Germany.
“I asked Finidi George to allow me to stay with the players in the camp, but Finidi asked me not to bother and that I should stay with my family. I’m not addressing anything, everybody knows I play my heart out whenever I’m playing for the club or national team. I’ll share the screenshot and videos of my conversation with Finidi for the sake of those believing what Finidi said.”
Despite the backlash he has received after his comments on social media, Osimhen has not apologized, and ex-Eagles coach Finidi has denied making such comments about the 25-year-old.