On Saturday, the Super Eagles played the Chadian national team in Kaduna in their first 2017 African Nations Cup qualifier and won the match 2-0. Enyeama had questioned the rationale of staging the match in the city as will was prone to attack by terrorist sect Boko Haram, arguing that this threatened the lives of the players.
Incensed with his questioning of the venue, the NFF immediately issued the Lille goalkeeper with a query, asking him to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against him. Equally, angry at being questioned, Enyeama tore the letter issued him right before two top NFF officials, prompting the federation to transfer the matter to its disciplinary committee for further investigation.
Former international Garba Lawal, one of Enyeama's team mates, said he heard about the matter and was not happy with the attitude shown by the goalkeeper. Lawal added: “I’m aware of Enyeama’s actions as the secretary of the federation told me about it.
"Who is Vincent Enyeama? This football we also played, and even if you are not going to answer a query, you can just hold it to yourself. I think that is very disrespectful.”
NFF president, Amaju Pinnick, added: “Kaduna State has always been a perfect ground for all national teams and a city in love with football. We are excited anytime we bring a match of the national team to Kaduna because we are always sure of massive support for our team.”
Chief Felix Anyasi-Agwu, the chairman of the NFF technical committee, said that the query issued to Enyeama was purely administrative and should not be interpreted as an indictment. He added: “As for Vincent, the statement credited to him about the venue was quite political rather than having anything to do with sports.
"The query is to enable us to hear his side of the story and be certain of exactly what he said. He could have been quoted out of context and so it is just an opportunity to set the record right.”
Meanwhile, it is believed that the NFF also issued head coach Stephen Keshi with a query to explain why non-league striker, Gabriel Okechukwu, made the Eagles substitute bench on Saturday. Okechukwu features for non-league Water FC of Abuja and he failed to make the final cut for the U-20 World Cup in New Zealand after he was named in a 35-man provisional squad.
