“That is not the Osimhen I know” – Amaju Pinnick weighs in on Finidi George’s fallout

By Monsurah Olatunji

Former president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick has addressed the ongoing drama surrounding Victor Osimhen’s behaviour. 

The 53-year-old tagged Osimhen’s fit of rage towards Finidi George as a moment of indiscretion rather than an indication of his character.

Recalled that Osimhen took to Instagram to rant, saying that he no longer has respect for the then Super Eagles manager George, after an unverified report surfaced, suggesting the former Real Betis winger threw him under the bus in his interview with the NFF.

In Finidi’s short stint as Super Eagles coach, the Napoli star was injured and was unable to join the team when they played two crucial World Cup qualifier games against South Africa and Benin Republic.

However, unverfied reports erronously claimed that the manager put the blame on Osimhen’s absence, saying: “I can’t beg players (Osimhen) to play for the country” which caused uproar and negative publicity about the player.

Despite all the criticism from fans alike, Pinnick insisted that the Napoli star is not a rude person but was caught in an unfortunate circumstance.

“Let me dwell on Osimhen’s case. It was quite unfortunate,” Pinnick told Arise TV. 

“That ranting was so unfortunate. 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. And 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 others and we have maintained that relationship.”