Samson Siasia who was the Head Coach of the Olympics Eagles to the Rio 2016 Olympics, has refuted claims that Mikel Obi paid for the flight tickets of the team from United States to Rio.
Siasia was reacting to the news credited to Mikel Obi in the media space in Nigeria in the past few days, where he said that he paid for the flight tickets of the team from Atlanta to Rio in 2016 and till today, he has not been refunded the money.
“Mikel Obi did not pay any flight money for Olympic Eagles from United States to Brazil for the 2016 Olympics. Nothing like that,” Siasia told Omonfoma Ebare of AIT Sports.
“We only had issues with hotel bills. I think, he did pay for some of the hotel bills, but that of the flight from United States to Brazil, Mikel did not pay for that.
Delta Airline flew us because Nigerians in the United States were agitated over the issue. A friend of mine went to Delta Airline chairman and they resolved the matter.
He added that : “Yemi Idowu had earlier paid for the team’s flight tickets, but the aircraft was too small.
“If Mikel has the receipt to that effect, let him show Nigerians that he was the one who paid.
Mikel did not pay for any flight tickets of the team. I say this as the head coach of the team then. He should bring the receipt, if he paid.
“May be he is broke and looking for money. He should try other means to make money,” he concluded.
