John Shittu, former agent of Super Eagles legend John Obi Mikel, has dismissed bribery allegations made by ex-Nigeria U23 coach Samson Siasia, describing them as baseless and unworthy of a response.
Siasia had recently claimed that Shittu offered him €50,000 to include Mikel Obi in Nigeria’s squad for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, despite the player not taking part in the qualification campaign.
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In an interview, Siasia recounted how Mikel, who was then on the books of Chelsea, opted out of the Olympic qualifiers but later expressed interest in joining the squad once qualification was secured.
“Going to the Olympics, Mikel wanted to come and play. His agent said he would give me €50,000 to include him,” Siasia alleged, insisting he declined the offer out of fairness to players who had earned the team’s qualification.
“He didn’t play the qualifiers. So I should remove someone who helped us qualify to bring him in? It won’t happen,” Siasia said. “People who played to qualify should go.”
As a result, Mikel was not part of the Nigeria team that won silver at the Beijing Games in 2008. He would, however, return to captain the U23 team at the 2016 Rio Olympics, leading Nigeria to a bronze medal finish.
Responding to the allegation in a statement to TheCable, Shittu denied the accusation and described Siasia’s comments as “damaging and inconsequential.”
“I am one of the most respected agents in the game,” Shittu said. “I don’t engage myself with damaged or inconsequential people.”
Shittu further claimed that Siasia had since reached out to apologise, although he did not elaborate on the nature of the apology.
“As far as I am concerned, it’s a forgotten issue,” he added.
As of the time of reporting, Mikel Obi has yet to issue any public statement regarding the controversy.
