The Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, SWAN, say they will still support Super Eagles captain, John Mikel Obi and the team in spite of derogatory comments he made about them.
Mikel issued a public statement a day after Nigeria beat Algeria 3-1 regarding comments made by Super Eagles coach about his time at Chelsea and a particular part read, “unfortunately comments made by Gernot Rohr before Saturday’s 3-1 win over Algeria were mistranslated and taken out of context by the Nigerian media, as English isn’t Mr. Rohr’s or much of the Nigeria media’s first language.”
According to a statement by the SWAN leadership, “Mikel Obi’s uncomplimentary comments are really uncalled for and should not have been, in view of the Nigerian media’s contributions to his career and the country’s football as a whole.”
The statement continued that Nigerian sports writers will view the incident as part of their sacrifice towards Nigeria’s qualification for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The association had in a communiqué issued at the end of its convention in Ilorin in September urged all Nigerians to see the country’s qualification for Russia 2018 World Cup as a national project.
“We still stand by this resolution and urge all our members to disregard Mikel’s comments and continue to play their crucial role of promoting the country’s football with all necessary zeal and patriotism.”
They continued that they expect stakeholders only do things that will strengthen the concentration of the Super Eagles towards achieving qualification and not controversy.
“While we commend the Super Eagles and salute coach Gernot Rohr for their efforts so far, we are however hopeful that the team’s defence line would be strengthened to overcome greater challenges as we progress.”
The president of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria is Honour Sirawoo who says he will continue to seek the support and understanding of all stakeholders in the sports sector as it intensifies its reformation agenda towards effective service delivery and securing respect for sports journalists.
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