Yobo overspent, not needed –Laloko

A former Technical Director, Nigeria Football Federation, Chief Kasimawo Laloko, on Sunday advised the Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi not to yield to the pressure of taking the team captain Joseph Yobo to the Brazil 2014 World Cup. Laloko insists the player has gone past his prime.

The former Gambia national coach also urged the NFF to judiciously use the Federal Government’s grant for the execution of Eagles campaign in Brazil.

The Minister of Sports, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, last week confirmed the Federal Government’s approval of N1.6bn for the Eagles campaign at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

On the invitation of Captain Joseph Yobo to the Super Eagles, Laloko told the News Agency of Nigeria, “My answer is no! There’s so much pressure on Keshi to take Yobo, Yobo is overspent.

“Keshi would remember that I was the one who invited Yobo to Malaga to start his career and the year 2000 to date is 14 years. What is Yobo coming to do that he has not done? If he puts him in the team, he’ll regret it.

“The man is old. He has done enough and I think he should go and rest.”

Laloko told NAN in Abeokuta that the World Cup funds should not be spent on a “jamboree.”

“For me, I think the reason the Federal Government has done this is to encourage the preparation of the NFF for Brazil 2014 but do they require a special grant? Will they use it well? What is special: A special grant for what?

“I hope that money will not serve as a jamboree to Brazil just for us to come home with nothing,” Laloko said.

He said there should be a clear-cut proposal on how the money should be spent.

“I will suggest strongly that the NFF should sit down and do proper planning and give us a proposal on how it will spend the money. If it’s a special grant, then we must know how they are going to spend it, but if it is just going to be the lavish way we have been spending our money, it will not be nice.”