As the 2026 World Cup gathers momentum in North America, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has expressed frustration over Nigeria’s absence from the tournament.
Wike, who spoke at the commissioning of the Gwagwalada-Kuje Road project on Wednesday, where ex-Super Eagles’ captain, Joseph Yobo, was among dignitaries, expressed sadness over Nigeria’s failure to feature at the World Cup.
The minister said that despite Nigeria’s credentials and the number of players of Nigerian heritage featuring at the World Cup, not seeing the Super Eagles play on the biggest stage is hard to accept.
“Yes, we have congratulated one of our stars, Joseph Yobo. But let me use this medium through you to tell the Super Eagles: we are not happy,” the minister said while addressing Yobo at the event.
“If nobody else will tell you that—because I saw people clapping for you the moment they saw the Super Eagles—I said, ‘I won’t clap.’ I won’t clap because I watch the World Cup. I see countries I have never heard of before qualifying to play in the World Cup, and I am sitting down for hours watching countries that are completely unknown.
“In this contest, we have no less than 13 top Nigerian players playing all over the world, but here we are; we did not qualify. Yobo, go and tell them. We are not happy.”
Nigeria failed to reach a second consecutive World Cup tournament after losing to DR Congo in the African playoff tournament last year. The Super Eagles, who first featured in the competition in 1994, made the play-offs after losing the direct ticket to South Africa despite beating neighbours Benin Republic 4-0 in the final match of the qualification series.
Despite that, Nigeria got a lifeline via the African playoffs after finishing as one of the four second-best-placed teams in the qualification race. They won their first match against Gabon but agonisingly fell on penalties to the Leopards of DR Congo. That meant the Central Africans represented the continent in the intercontinental playoffs, where they eventually picked one of the two tickets to the World Cup.
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