Super Eagles captain, Mikel Obi shunned Joseph Yobo’s testimonial match last week in Port Harcourt over Yobo’s inability to charter a flight for him from London.
This was confirmed by a Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) official, who disclosed that Yobo had accepted to send a flight to pick Mikel and his Chelsea captain, John Terry from London down to Nigeria for the tribute game.
But the organisers of the testimonial reneged on the arrangement at the last minute, when the bills for the event piled up.
The development reportedly infuriated an embarrassed Mikel and he decidedly stayed away.
However, the Chelsea midfielder was spotted in Lagos on the very day that the event, which attracted high calibre of retired players (both foreign and local), was being held in Port Harcourt, according to HotSports.tv.
Terry also did not turn up despite assurances from the organisers that the Chelsea FC’s supremo would be available unfailingly.
The NFF official, who also expressed displeasure at the Mikel’s attitude towards the whole event, said the federation was going to take a closer look at the circumstances surrounding the Eagles captain’s absence at the occasion, when he was officially excused from the two international friendlies within the period for the testimonial.
“NFF was equally shocked and appalled by Mikel’s sudden absence at the event like every other person. As the current captain of the team, he was officially released to represent the team in honouring his retiring captain, but he failed to turn up and without any prior excuse.
“We will try to investigate what gave rise to such shame and apply sanctions if there is need for that,” the source said.
Both Mikel and his assistant captain, Ahmed Musa were dropped from the Super Eagles’ squad that played against Mali and Luxembourg in France and Luxembourg city respectively to honour Yobo.
While Musa showed up and played in the testimonial match, Mikel was conspicuously absent.