Dropped Nigerian captain Sunday Oliseh says that he and vice-captain Finidi George planned to boycott this summer's World Cup even prior to being left out of new manager Adegboye Onigbinde's 55-man pre World Cup squad.
Oliseh said: "During the African Nations' Cup my vice-captain Finidi and I came to the conclusion that we could do without the World Cup if they sacked our coach Shuaibu Amodu.
"They fired him without any convincing reason as our failure wasn't his fault at all."
Oliseh,like Finidi, finds the decision to appoint Onigbinde hugely surprising as the new man has not been in management for some while: "He hasn't coached for more than 20 years and is well over 60. I simply can't understand this decision."
Onigbinde was previously in charge in 1984 when he took Nigeria to the African Nations' Cup in
the Ivory Coast. More recently he was coaching Trinidad and Tobago.
Certainly some of his selections are baffling. Included is Birmingham striker Dele Adebole who hasn't played a match for nearly a year.
Onigbinde himself says of his squad: "In assembling this squad, I have taken the utmost care to give players who have not been picked before a chance to prove themselves. I have also selected some local players in the squad who have proved themselves in the domestic league. I wanted to be as fair as I could to everyone."
Oliseh, who plays for Dortmuind, and Finidi both spoke out against the appointment as soon as it was announced and this may have had something to do with their omission from Onigbinde's squad.
Previously Finidi said he would retire after this summer's World Cup.