Okocha clarifies controversial comment on Premier League preference over NPFL

Okocha played briefly at Enugu Rangers before he went to Europe to start a career that saw him play for clubs in Germany, Turkey, France, and England.

The legend recently came under fire for his comments on the state of the home league, declaring his preference for the English Premier League.

However, the former Paris Saint-Germain maestro remains undeterred, asserting his commitment to honesty regarding the NPFL’s current status and the need for improvement.

“I think it’s high time we start telling each other the truth,” Okocha told Brila FM.

“At this stage in my life, I think it’ll be unfair to lie to our people; for me to be covering up, if we’re talking about getting better, if we’re talking about improving, if we’re talking about meeting our expectations.

“I said that I’d prefer to watch the Premier League on television than watch our NPFL because we’re not where we are supposed to be because it hurts to see that the efforts we all put in, that nothing has been built on it.

“Yes, now it seems like we’ve realized that, and we’ve started creating exciting tournaments, and clubs are now taking the initiative to make sure that they’re doing the right thing, And this is what we’re craving for, and this is why I made that statement so that we will wake up and realize that we need to start attracting people to our local league.

“We need to make our stadiums conducive for people to go and watch matches and not be harassed. We need to make sure that the right results are what we’re experiencing and not the home team-must-win syndrome. We want to see a good league, an attractive one.”