Pinnick labels Victor Osimhen’s outburst against Finidi George as “unfortunate”

By Wale Mustapha

Former President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, has described Victor Osimhen’s recent outburst against former Super Eagles head coach Finidi George as “unfortunate.”

The Napoli striker was seen on an Instagram live feed hurling insults at Finidi for reportedly questioning his dedication to the national team after Osimhen pulled out of the team’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against South Africa and Benin Republic.

The Super Eagles managed a 1-1 draw with Bafana Bafana of South Africa and suffered a 2-1 defeat to the Cheetahs of Benin Republic. These disappointing results have put the team in danger of missing out on the World Cup for the second consecutive edition.

Pinnick revealed he spoke with Osimhen and expressed disappointment over the footballer’s actions.

“Let me dwell on Osimhen’s case. It was quite unfortunate. That ranting was so unfortunate,” Pinnick said on Arise TV.

I put a call through to Osimhen and I made him understand that I didn’t like what he did, and he spoke to me with remorse. I told him to channel his remorse to the appropriate quarters.

“Osimhen has always come to me; we discovered Osimhen. It was during my first tenure. In fact, that was the first trophy I won as the president of NFF when he led us to Chile and he was the highest goal scorer. I don’t know what went wrong.

“It was just a moment of madness so to speak. But that is not the Osimhen that I know. Osimhen comes to me as a very humble boy. I don’t know about others, but we have maintained that relationship.”

Reports indicate that Osimhen has since apologized to Finidi, and both men have settled the misunderstanding.