Musa Amadu, the Secretary-General, Nigeria Football Association (NFA) has said the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) had not ordered the reinstatement of Sylvanus Okpala as Super Eagles assistant coach.
Amadu was speaking against the backdrop of media reports that CAS had ordered for Okpala’s reinstatement to his former position with full payment of all his entitlements.
The NFA scribe, however, said that there was no order of such, noting that Okpala was at the glasshouse to discuss modalities for the payment of his entitlements which was what CAS awarded to him.
“If the meeting was on his return, he would have been meeting with the technical committee.
“There is no such instruction that he be reinstated, I must say it to you. If there is such instruction we will tell Nigerians.
“One thing I want you to understand is that you can’t force unwilling servant on an unwilling master.
“There is no such law anywhere in the world. You can’t force somebody and say he must work with this person, it’s not possible.
“This was not part of CAS judgment and he didn’t even ask for it because obviously his lawyer might have advised him accordingly,’’ Amadu said.
He said that the football house had already started the implementation of the court judgment.
“We discussed issues of mutual interest particularly as it affects the redemption of his monies as awarded by CAS.
“Everything is going on fine; we have agreed on how the payment will be made on installment basis.
“Obviously he (Okpala) came to show appreciation to the fact that the football house is abiding by the agreement we had in principle which is being implemented.
“The matter with Okpala has been settled. The football house had abided by the agreement we had with him in principle and he just came to show us his appreciation.
“He is a member of Nigeria football family and he is always welcome,’’ Amadu added.
reports state that Okpala was dismissed from the team after he aided the Super Eagles to win the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) held in South Africa.
The Aminu Maigari-led board of the NFA had sacked Okpala, claiming that there was need to downsize the Eagles’ back room staff.
Okpala, however, declined to comment on the issue when approached by newsmen.