Former Super Eagles coach, Finidi George, on Sunday, reacted to the viral video of Victor Osimhen on social media, where he denied accusations of faking an injury to avoid participation in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Naija News had earlier reported that Osimhen, on Saturday, in an Instagram Live, disclosed that the claims about him staging an injury to skip national team duties were false.
In the video, Osimhen addressed some rumours linked to Finidi George, claiming that the former Enyimba gaffer said that he won’t beg him [Osimhen] to play for the Super Eagles.
Osimhen attacked the former Super Eagles coach, stating that he has lost respect for him.
The controversy prompted Nigerian sports journalist, Colin Udoh to seek clarification from both the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) and Finidi George.
Udoh reached out to senior NFF officials, who confirmed that Finidi never accused Osimhen of feigning an injury.
Udoh also revealed that he reached out to Finidi, who refuted ever making such a statement and expected Osimhen to have handled the situation differently.
Udoh said on Instagram, “So I called a couple of people who were at that meeting between Finidi, the NFF, and the minister to find out if what is alleged to have been said was actually said, and so these people are usually very, very senior and reliable people and I was told categorically that Finidi did not say the things he’s alleged to have said.
“He did not say he wasn’t going to beg Osimhen. He did not say that Osimhem was not committed. in fact, he did confirm when he was asked about Osimhen’s absence that he called him from Germany, and that’s why he was excused.
“It was when the issue of player’s commitment was raised; that’s why he said he would not beg anybody to play for the Super Eagles, but he did not mention any player by name, specifically.
“And so, I also called Finidi himself to ask him if that was the case and he also confirmed to me that he never said any of those things.
“In fact, he corroborated what the other gentleman had told me and that he would have no reason to call out any player, whether in public or in private, and that he would address issues with the players themselves if there were any issues.
“And then, as soon as the video was brought to his attention, he said he reached out to Osimhen and let him know that one, he never said those things, and two, even if he had, Osimhen should have reached out to him first to find out if he did say, what he was alleged to have said, rather than going, public with such disrespect.”