The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, says the Super Eagles have assured him of qualification for the next World Cup after missing out on the 2026 World Cup in Mexico, Canada, and the USA.
Wike spoke on Friday during a road project commissioning in the FCT, days after he decried the Super Eagles’ failure to qualify for the tournament.
“Let me particularly greet our friends who, in their own days, made Nigeria proud – Joseph Yobo and Emmanuel Babayaro. And I want to announce to this audience that Joseph Yobo told me yesterday that they have communicated our message to the Super Eagles,” he said during the commissioning of roads linking Mabushi Bus Terminal and Ahmadu Way in the FCT.
“They have told him that this will be the last time such a mistake will occur, that in the subsequent World Cup, Nigeria will be there. So their sins have been forgiven.”
The minister had decried the Super Eagles for not making it to North America, saying there are “countries I have never heard of before qualifying to play in the World Cup”.
The former governor of Rivers State told Yobo, a guest at the commissioning of the Gwagwalada-Kuje Road on Wednesday, that he was unhappy over the Super Eagles’ absence at the 2026 World Cup.
“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, a former Super Eagles captain who played at the 2002, 2010, and 2014 World Cups.
“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 did not qualify for the 2026 edition of the global football showpiece following their loss to DR Congo (on penalties) in the final of the African playoff for the tournament.
The Leopards eventually picked one of the two tickets available at the FIFA Intercontinental Playoffs to take the number of African representatives to ten. The Super Eagles had lost before then the automatic ticket to South Africa but got a lifeline via the play-offs.
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