Tag: John obi Mikel

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As A Coach, He Was Very Terrible – Mikel Obi Blasts Sunday Oliseh

John Mikel Obi, the Super Eagles of Nigeria and Chelsea legend, has spoken up about former Nigerian coach, Sunday Oliseh.

 

Obi spoke about his terrible experience with Sunday Oliseh as national team coach, blasting the former coach as “the worst manager ever”.

Obi bared his mind during Episode 3 of his ObiOne podcast tagged “Taking the Mikel: Sunday Oliseh, look away now!”

The AFCON 2013 winner disclosed that Oliseh confronted team leaders on the first day of camp.

He added that the former Borussia Dortmund midfielder’s divisive approach led to Vincent Enyeama leaving the team.

“I remember the first day he came into the camp. Then, we reported to the camp for International duties, he came straight at me and Vincent Enyeama, the goalkeeper, who also was very powerful back then. He came straight at us and Elderson Echiejile, and he said a few things. He said he heard there was a lot of player power with us. Then Enyeama was like, ‘What’s wrong with you? Where are you getting all of these from? We are a nice group, and you just come in, and the first thing is to attack us?

“He was like ‘I heard about you guys.’ And then Enyeama stood up and told him he couldn’t say that because we had been here for so many years. They started arguing, and literally, they were going to have a fight. He took Enyeama out of the team, and he came at us saying he was going to take us out of the team. He said he was going to take us out of the team; he said he was going to make sure we didn’t play anymore.

“Enyeama could not take it, and despite my pleas, he left the camp angrily and never came back.”

The retired midfielder further added that Oliseh, now 49 years old and without a club, was clueless as a coach that blamed voodoo for his failure.

“He (Oliseh) had absolutely no clue of how a manager is,” Obi started. “He was a fantastic guy in his playing days, but as a coach, he was very terrible. He absolutely had no clue of what he was doing. The players never understood anything he was doing, and he did not know what he was doing. He was just confused because he just came in and destroyed the team togetherness.

“His excuse when he got fired was that the people and FA did voodoo on him not to succeed. He was easily the worst manager I played under. He was so bitter with everybody, jealous with everybody, and had no respect for speaking to anybody, whether the physio or anybody.”

Oliseh spent only eight months as Super Eagles manager between 2015 and 2016, and was recently a part of the FIFA technical committee to the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup.

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I Didn’t Snub 2Baba In London Club – Mikel Obi Speaks Up

Mikel Obi, the former Super Eagles captain, has spoken up on his alleged beef with singer, Innocent Idibia aka 2baba.

He clarified that he never snubbed 2Baba at a club in London. He noted that he would never have done such a thing seeing he’s a big fan of 2Baba.

There’s been an existing narrative that the former Chelsea star snubbed 2baba sometime in 2006 at a club in London which led the veteran singer to release his 2010 hit track “Only Me”.

They claimed the song was 2baba’s way of getting back at Obi for his rudeness.

In 2016, a few years after the emergence of the speculation, 2Baba, in an interview with Brila FM, dispelled the narrative.

He said such an incident never took place and insisted the song was never a diss track nor about Mikel.

2Baba also revealed when he heard about the rumour at that time, called the former Nigerian international and they had a good laugh over it

“At the time I did the song, Mikel had issues with his inability to show up for certain Super Eagles games.

“Then some very good rumour monger picked a line from my song as regards patriotism towards representing the National football team and ran with the story of a rift between us.

“I spoke with Mikel on the phone and we had a good laugh about it”, stated the veteran singer

Though Mikel never openly addressed the speculation until recently when a curious fan quizzed him about the same under the comment section of the Instagram post he made

He shared a video where he was captured chilling at home while enjoying some good music.

Captioning the video, he wrote: “When the music hits hard, and you can’t get enough. Have a good Sunday my people.”

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I Paid Crazy Money As Ransom For My Father’s Release From Kidnappers’ Den – Mikel Obi Reveals

John Obi Mikel, the former Nigerian and Chelsea midfielder, has made a disclosure about his father’s release from kidnappers.

He disclosed that he paid some “crazy amount of money” to get his dad, Pa Michael, out of the kidnapper’s den in 2018.

The football star made this known while speaking with Dubai Eye 103.8 Sport.

His father, Pa Michael Obi was kidnapped along with his driver, Ishaya John, along the Markurdi – Enugu road in 2018 while on their way from Jos in a grey coloured Toyota Prado jeep.

Super Eagles captain, Mikel Obi, had in 2018 said he was informed about his father’s kidnap about four hours before Nigeria’s final World Cup match against Argentina.

Mikel noted that he received the shocking news while travelling on the team bus to the stadium in St Petersburg.

According to him, a family member had called and told him that he had to call the kidnappers on a designated number. After he did so, he was ordered to pay a ransom.

He further explained that although he was distraught by the news, he had to put it aside and play the match.

“I was emotionally distraught and I had to make the decision about whether I was mentally ready to play. I was confused. I did not know what to do but, in the end, I knew that I could not let 180 million Nigerians down. I had to shut it out of my head and go and represent my country first. I could not even inform the coaches or NFF staff and only a very tight circle of my friends knew.

“I was told that they would shoot my dad instantly if I reported to the authorities or told anybody. I also did not want to discuss it with the coach [Gernot Rohr] because I did not want my issue to become a distraction to him or the rest of the team on the day of such an important game. As much as I wanted to discuss it with the coach, I could not,” he said.

However, days after, they were rescued by the police, around 2:30 pm in Egede Udi forest of Enugu State.

“The abductors then started calling the families to demand a ransom of N10 million but the operatives acting on intelligence information swooped on them. A gun duel ensued which forced the hoodlums to abandon their victims inside the forest and they were promptly rescued,” the police said in a statement.

Mikel Obi who bravely led the Super Eagles against Argentina four hours after he spoke with the kidnappers who kidnapped his father.

“They [the kidnappers] said listen, we know, it is Mikel he would pay. If he doesn’t, we are going to shoot his dad. They said they had nothing to lose. They would shoot my dad and dump him somewhere,” Mikel Obi said.

“It was horrible. After the game, I got back on the phone, tried to negotiate with them and spoke with them. They were calling some ridiculous amount of money for a start, and in the end, I still had to pay some crazy amount of money to get my dad out.

“Even now, I still go through it. Even when I got a flashback, I had to speak to the guys on the phone. There was a gunpoint at his head. They said they would shoot him, kill him. I have not told my kids about it, but a few months ago, they looked at my phone and saw the news about it. Obviously, I have not told them about it because they are young kids, 7 years, but one day when they grow up, I will be able to share the story with them,” he said.