Amaju Pinnick, President of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), says Gernot Rohr was sacked as Super Eagles coach to prevent a “disaster” waiting to happen.
Pinnick said this on Monday while he was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily breakfast programme.
He added that the sacked Super Eagles coach, Rohr was still being owed some unpaid salaries.
“It wasn’t an individual decision; it was a collective decision from the committee,” he said
“We didn’t want a disaster to happen before taking the decision.”
When asked whether the NFF owed Rohr some unpaid salaries, the NFF President said, “We are owing him a couple of monies and they will be cleared off (in) five months.”
The Franco-German coach managed the first team for 64 months.
SaharaReporters had reported last month that the NFF owed Rohr, and would be compelled to pay him a huge compensation of $2 million (approximately N822 million) if fired.
According to findings by SaharaReporters, the NFF was desperately searching for a clever way to ease Rohr out without having to pay the $2 million compensation clause in his contract and other financial entitlements he would be due to get.
In May 2020, Rohr signed a contract extension to keep him in charge of the Super Eagles until after the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar with the hefty payout clause.
The coach, who earned around $55,000 (N31,350,000) monthly, was paid partly by some of the NFF’s sponsors including Aieto Insurance and other prominent companies.
The sponsors were said to have grown frustrated by the team’s poor displays in recent times and had been pushing for Rohr’s dismissal.
A source in the NFF had told SaharaReporters that paying Rohr’s compensation if he were to be sacked was a big deal at the time as the football federation did not have such funds.
The football federation has appointed Augustine Eguavoen, currently its Technical Director, as the Technical Adviser of the Super Eagles on an interim basis.
