How Oliseh Fought For Home-Based Super Eagles To Be Paid In Dollars – Duke Udi

Former Nigeria international Duke Udi has said legendary Super Eagles captain Sunday Oliseh stopped the practice of home-based players getting paid in naira while foreign-based players got theirs in dollars. Udi who disclosed this in an interview on Elegbete TV, said he was paid N200,000 in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Liberia in 2001 in Port Harcourt, Rivers. According to him, some foreign-based players who did not feature in the game that ended 2-0 in favour of the Super Eagles were paid $5,000. The 47-year-old said the discrepancy in the winning bonus got Oliseh, captain of the Eagles at the time, angry. This led Oliseh to ask every other player to return their own $5000. “How can you give someone who played N200,000 and someone that didn’t play the same match is collecting $5,000?he said no that’s injustice, you know he’s someone that is highly educated and that has to stop,” Udi said. “He told me I should not take the money and ask other players to return their money so that he will return it to the Secretary General, that was how I now got my $5,000 back to me. “He took every other players’ money because he is someone that is highly respected in the Eagles because he is a man of his word and doesn’t talk anyhow. “So he said if the other players don’t bring their own $5,000 he is not going to see the then Rivers State governor, Peter Odili because he was waiting to host us, so he said he would not go and being the captain who will address the governor after any gift of presentation?” Udi said when the other foreign-based players returned the money, Oliseh kept it in his room and asked all the players to go and honour the governor who gave each of them $5,000. “Oliseh said now we shared the money the governor gave us right there so why is someone who played a game is getting N200,000? He said if I didn’t play it’s a different thing.” Udi stated that Oliseh called a meeting around 11:00 am because they left the hotel by 12pm. During the meeting, Oliseh disclosed that all the players had been paid equal and proceeded to sharing the $5,000 to each player, irrespective of who played or not as long as they were invited. “So Oliseh stopped that era of home-based collecting naira while foreign-based were paid in dollars,” Udi said.