AFCON 2023: We won’t boycott training over unpaid bonuses – Kenneth Omeruo

Nigerian defender Kenneth Omeruo said the Super Eagles will not boycott training at the ongoing 2023 Africa Cup of Nations despite their unpaid bonuses, amid widely-publicised approval of their competition funding by President Bola Tinubu.

The Kasimpasa defender also dispelled reports (not in Vanguard) that some senior players are unhappy with squad captain Ahmed Musa, accusing him of not representing their interests and threatening to take their case directly to higher authorities.

“The report is a joke,” Omeruo told ESPN. Musa showed us at lunch and we laughed about it.

“We are focused on our game, believing that our money will be paid. This squad is not the one to fight over money, otherwise, you would have heard that we refused to go to training even before the tournament.”

According to the Nigerian Football Federation General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi, the federation is working closely with the Central Bank of Nigeria to expedite the payments.

“The NFF is grateful to the CBN for the way and manner they have continued to expedite action on payment requests that we have sent to them with regards to this competition,” Sanusi told ESPN.

“We have not experienced any delays or complication of processes at the CBN this time, and we give kudos to them for their diligence and great sense of duty.”

According to ESPN, the Eagles pre-tournament agreement with the NFF, is that the players will be paid graduated qualification bonuses for each round they reach during the tournament, in addition to similarly graduated match-by-match bonuses based on their progress through the tournament.

This is in contrast to the past where they were only paid on a match by match basis.