{"id":13132,"date":"2026-11-09T12:00:48","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T12:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/09\/nff-officials-stopped-me-from-greeting-flamingos-peter-obi\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T12:00:48","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T12:00:48","slug":"nff-officials-stopped-me-from-greeting-flamingos-peter-obi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/09\/nff-officials-stopped-me-from-greeting-flamingos-peter-obi\/","title":{"rendered":"NFF officials stopped me from greeting Flamingos \u2014 Peter Obi"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2027 presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, has accused officials of the Nigeria Football Federation of preventing him from greeting members of the victorious Flamingos team at the Abuja airport.\n<\/p>\n

Obi made the allegation in a statement released on Monday titled \u201cA New Dimension of Toxic Politics in Nigeria\u201d, in which he criticised what he described as the growing influence of political divisions in the country.<\/p>\n

\"Flamingos\"
Flamingos after World Cup triumph against Japan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

He said he arrived at the airport at 7 am on Monday to board a flight to Enugu when he saw the Nigeria Under-17 women\u2019s team, which had just returned from Morocco<\/a> after winning the FIFA U-17 Women\u2019s World Cup.\n<\/p>\n

Obi said he asked his Protocol Officer, Jackie Wayas, to find out whether he could greet and welcome the players but was told that NFF officials had refused his request.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was informed that officials of the Nigerian Football Federation had refused and had requested that I not approach,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The former Anambra State governor said the incident was not the first time he had been prevented from greeting Nigerian footballers.\n<\/p>\n

Recounting a similar experience on March 25, 2025, during a World Cup qualifier in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Obi said the governor had welcomed him at the VIP stand, but he was later stopped from greeting the players after the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing the match, other government officials went to greet the players, but I was again prevented from doing so. I was told by the officials that they would lose their jobs if I proceeded,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

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Related News<\/header>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Describing the incidents as evidence of what he called \u201ctoxic politics\u201d, Obi said the situation reflected a deterioration in the country\u2019s political climate since 2025.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is deeply troubling to witness the extent of toxic politics into which our nation has descended since 2025. Each year appears to bring further deterioration. This reflects how deeply Nigeria has been affected,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

He called for a country where political differences would not result in hostility or discrimination, insisting that \u201cunity, mutual respect, and our shared humanity\u201d should take precedence over political affiliations.\n<\/p>\n

The NFF had not publicly commented on Obi\u2019s claim as of the time of filing this report.\n<\/p>\n

The Flamingos returned to Abuja on Monday after defeating Japan 2-1 in Saturday\u2019s final in Morocco to win their first FIFA U-17 Women\u2019s World Cup title<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

The victory also made Nigeria the first African country to win the competition.<\/p>\n

Source: <\/p>\n

Punch Newspapers – Latest News<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2027 presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, has accused officials of the Nigeria Football Federation of preventing him from greeting members of the victorious Flamingos team… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}