Former Super Eagles captain, Vincent Enyeama has been in the news following his rift with Coach Sunday Oliseh. Enyeama announced his resignation from the national team via the social platform. In this interview with Galaxy Television, the Akwa Ibom born goal tender is saying he wants to be part of the team to re-write the history of Nigeria football.
We have heard so much about your rift with Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh. tell us, what has been going on?
First, of all, I want to thank Nigerians. I appreciate the passion, the criticism, everything. I want to say a very big thank you.
On the issue on ground, I think this is not the best way to treat someone who has served the country with so much enthusiasm and so much passion, so much dedication, you know, commitment. I think I have honoured almost all the matches I have been invited to play for the Super Eagles.
So to be treated the way I was treated a couple of days ago, I personally don’t accept that.
What really happened in the camp between you and Oliseh? How were treated?
When I came to camp, I had no issues with my coach. The coach has been a big part of me. He is there for me. He fought for me when I had issues with the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF). The coach defended me all the way. I have never had an issue with him.
He (Oliseh) doesn’t know me. I don’t know him. We have never played together. We have never shared a football field, together.
The first thing that happened when I first arrived at the camp was a meeting. At the meeting, the coach addressed the players. The first thing he said was that he invited four goalkeepers to camp because he never expected me to come to the camp.
Secondly, he said that I was no more the captain of the team. That he had decided and he calls the shots. That was before dinner. He ended his speech with, “Enjoy your dinner”.
For me, it was a little bit shocking because I spoke with the NFF chairman (Amaju Pinnick) during the burial of my mother in Akwa Ibom. I was trying to excuse myself from coming to the camp because of the burial. He said, “No, Vincent, you have to be in camp”. He pushed me to be in camp. And because I really respect him (Pinnick), I told him I was going to leave everything, the thanksgiving service for my late mum. I told him, I was going to abandon it and come to the camp, which I did.
All the family meetings, everything we had to do with the people in the village, I abandoned all that and came to the camp.
So, for me to get my first welcome message of being stripped of captainship was a little bit not good for me. And after I had taken my food and ate, dinner had commenced. I am just telling you what played out.
I said, “Coach, please, I would like to say something.” He said, “No, you can’t talk”. I insisted that I wanted to talk. He insisted that I can’t talk. He then said that if I wanted to talk, he would order the team out and nobody would listen to me and I would sit there and talk alone or I would have to walk out if I insisted on talking.
I said, “Coach, I still want to say something.” And he said, “Vincent, get out! You have to leave now. If you don’t leave, I’m going to call the cops, the security to throw you out of this hotel.” He used the word, “security”.
He then got up, went to the door and opened it and commanded me to go out. He said, “Go out, go out, Vincent! Or I am going to call the security.”
So that is how it played out.
So, for me to lose my mother, be invited to the camp, only to be stripped of captainship. Then out of argument, to be threatened to have the cops or security called for me, to me, I think it is the height of it.
I have heard all sorts of things that Neymar this and that. They never treated Thiago Silva that way. They never treated Mascherano that way. Some Nigerians can say whatever they want to say, but for me, I feel that’s not the right way to be treated.
I am still open for playing for Nigeria till the day I die. Till the day I can stop playing
We have heard so much about your rift with Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh. tell us, what has been going on?
First, of all, I want to thank Nigerians. I appreciate the passion, the criticism, everything. I want to say a very big thank you.
On the issue on ground, I think this is not the best way to treat someone who has served the country with so much enthusiasm and so much passion, so much dedication, you know, commitment. I think I have honoured almost all the matches I have been invited to play for the Super Eagles.
So to be treated the way I was treated a couple of days ago, I personally don’t accept that.
What really happened in the camp between you and Oliseh? How were treated?
When I came to camp, I had no issues with my coach. The coach has been a big part of me. He is there for me. He fought for me when I had issues with the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF). The coach defended me all the way. I have never had an issue with him.
He (Oliseh) doesn’t know me. I don’t know him. We have never played together. We have never shared a football field, together.
The first thing that happened when I first arrived at the camp was a meeting. At the meeting, the coach addressed the players. The first thing he said was that he invited four goalkeepers to camp because he never expected me to come to the camp.
Secondly, he said that I was no more the captain of the team. That he had decided and he calls the shots. That was before dinner. He ended his speech with, “Enjoy your dinner”.
For me, it was a little bit shocking because I spoke with the NFF chairman (Amaju Pinnick) during the burial of my mother in Akwa Ibom. I was trying to excuse myself from coming to the camp because of the burial. He said, “No, Vincent, you have to be in camp”. He pushed me to be in camp. And because I really respect him (Pinnick), I told him I was going to leave everything, the thanksgiving service for my late mum. I told him, I was going to abandon it and come to the camp, which I did.
All the family meetings, everything we had to do with the people in the village, I abandoned all that and came to the camp.
So, for me to get my first welcome message of being stripped of captainship was a little bit not good for me. And after I had taken my food and ate, dinner had commenced. I am just telling you what played out.
I said, “Coach, please, I would like to say something.” He said, “No, you can’t talk”. I insisted that I wanted to talk. He insisted that I can’t talk. He then said that if I wanted to talk, he would order the team out and nobody would listen to me and I would sit there and talk alone or I would have to walk out if I insisted on talking.
I said, “Coach, I still want to say something.” And he said, “Vincent, get out! You have to leave now. If you don’t leave, I’m going to call the cops, the security to throw you out of this hotel.” He used the word, “security”.
He then got up, went to the door and opened it and commanded me to go out. He said, “Go out, go out, Vincent! Or I am going to call the security.”
So that is how it played out.
So, for me to lose my mother, be invited to the camp, only to be stripped of captainship. Then out of argument, to be threatened to have the cops or security called for me, to me, I think it is the height of it.
I have heard all sorts of things that Neymar this and that. They never treated Thiago Silva that way. They never treated Mascherano that way. Some Nigerians can say whatever they want to say, but for me, I feel that’s not the right way to be treated.
I am still open for playing for Nigeria till the day I die. Till the day I can stop playing
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