The Super Eagles captain, Ahmed Musa, criticized the media and supporters in a statement made public by The Punch for Mikel Obi, Victor Moses, and Odion Ighalo’s early retirement from the Nigerian national team.
Before Nigeria’s match against Zimbabwe at Butare, Rwanda, the captain gave a statement discussing the experiences that resulted in these players’ retirement.
He said that the players are scared after games because they don’t know what would be posted on their social media profiles, and he pleaded with the media to be gentle with them because they are sensitive under duress.
“We have a lot of players who should not have retired from the team when they did but it was what the media report that forced them out.
“As you can see, we still need someone like Mikel Obi in the team, we still need Victor Moses. “It’s not all about young players in the team because you need players to take them along, but right now we don’t have that.”
Mikel Obi left the team after they finished in third place in the AFCON held in Egypt, Victor Moses left the national team after the 2018 World Cup in Russia and Odion Ighalo left also in 2019.
Further speaking, Ahmed Musa said; “Please, I am begging the media to please take it easy with these young boys, they can’t take too much pressure.
“That is why whenever they go onto the pitch to play they panic because they are thinking about what they are going to see on their accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.”
Musa also spoke about the circumstances that led to Ighalo’s exit after the striker and his family recieved death threats on social media.
“What do you think forced Odion Ighalo out of Eagles? They threatened to kill his family, and he had to quit.
“Why will you threaten to kill my family just because I play for my country. When you go outside, you see how they worship us, but when you come back home they treat you like nobody,” he said.
