The Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Chief Sunday Dare, has faulted a claim by former Super Eagles player and coach, Samson Siasia, that the ministry treated him badly and abandoned him during his life ban from football activities by FIFA.
FIFA had in 2019 passed a guilty verdict on Siasia and slammed a life ban on him from all football-related activities.
The regulatory body also found him guilty of having accepted that he would receive bribes in relation to the “manipulation of matches”.
The punishment was however reduced to a five-year ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).
But Siasia had recently claimed that his ex-teammates and sports ministry abandoned him during the period of the life ban.
He had said, “The most disappointing moments were when your colleagues that you played with never called you to ask you how you’re doing.
“Even the legend games – I don’t know what FIFA ban had to do with legend games – they don’t even invite me or put me amongst whatever they are doing. So I’m very disappointed with that.
“The minister of sports came in few weeks after my ban. And the minister called me and said, ‘coach, I know about your problem, but we don’t have money.”
Debunking the claims of Siasia, Dare said he (Siasia) was not telling the truth, insisting that the Olympic gold medalist received “cash” from the ministry.
The sports minister added that the Federal Government “will soon come out with the facts” to show that the ministry helped Siasia during the turbulent times.
Dare said, “Siasia is not telling the truth, and the ministry and the FG will come out with the facts. Of the cash he collected, of the efforts we made. He is not telling the truth.”
