The Nigeria Football Federation’s Committee on Ethics and Fair Play have placed a one-year ban on Super Eagles assistant coach Salisu Yusuf.
The committee also fined him $5,000, payable within the next three months, following its conclusion of an investigation into bribery allegations.
Video footage of Yusuf allegedly collecting a cash gift from investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, who posed as a representative of Tiger Eye Agency to influence the selection of two players, had surfaced in July.
However, the coach initially denied any wrongdoing, insisting he only accepted the money as a gift, and not as an inducement in the selection of the players supposedly represented by the undercover reporter.
The Ethics Committee, chaired by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, in a report submitted to the NFF Secretariat on Tuesday, stated that from Salisu’s subsequent admission and documented video evidence of receiving $1,000, it was a deliberate decision to accept the cash.
“The Committee found as a fact that it was not an error of judgment on the part of Coach Salisu Yusuf but a conscious and deliberate decision to have accepted the cash gift of $1,000 from the decoy player agent/undercover reporter, purportedly interested in acting on behalf of players Osas Okoro and Rabiu Ali,” the report stated.
However, the committee failed to establish any evidence of the cash inducement playing any role in the selection of both Okoro and Ali for the 2018 African Nations Championship, as the players in question were integral members of the team and would have made the cut on merit for the competition.
The Ethics Committee added: “The act of the Coach, which was widely published on the British Broadcasting Corporation, has a damaging effect on the reputation and integrity of Nigerian Football, as he ought to have conducted himself more professionally in line with the Code of Conduct signed alongside his Contract with the Nigeria Football Federation, as his conduct in public and in secret should be exemplary, since coaches are role models.”
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