Former President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, has described Victor Osimhen’s outburst against former Super Eagles head coach, Finidi George, as “unfortunate and a moment of madness.”
The Napoli striker took to social media to criticise Finidi for questioning his commitment to the national team after he withdrew from Nigeria’s squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against South Africa and Benin Republic.
The Super Eagles drew 1-1 with South Africa’s Bafana Bafana and lost 2-1 to Benin Republic’s Cheetahs, putting their chances of qualifying for the World Cup in jeopardy for the second consecutive edition.
Speaking to Arise TV, Pinnick revealed that he spoke with Osimhen and expressed his disappointment over the player’s actions.
“Let me dwell on Osimhen’s case. It was quite unfortunate. That ranting was so unfortunate. I put a call through to Osimhen and I made him understand that I didn’t like what he did, and he spoke to me with remorse. And I told him to channel his remorse to the appropriate quarters,” Pinnick said on Arise TV.
“Osimhen has always come to me; we discovered Osimhen during my first tenure. That was the first trophy I won as the president of NFF when he led us to Chile and he was the highest goal scorer. I don’t know what went wrong. It was just a moment of madness so to speak. But that is not the Osimhen that I know. Osimhen comes to me as a very humble boy. I don’t know others, and we have maintained that relationship.”
Osimhen, the current CAF Best Player, was a key member of the Nigeria under-17 team that won the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile. He scored 10 goals in seven games at the tournament, winning the Golden Boot and Silver Ball awards. His performances also earned him the CAF Youth Player of the Year Award in 2015.
