Ripples Over Rohr’s Wages As Lawyers Set To Petition FIFA

*German coach can’t access money

The rift between the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and sacked Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr has taken a new dimension after the former reportedly paid owed wages into the latter’s local account.

Last month, the NFF dispensed with Rohr’s services on the eve of the AFCON with a caveat that his outstanding salaries and other emoluments would be paid as soon as possible but sources close to the German has confirmed that the NFF only paid the said amount into the German’s account domiciled in Nigeria.

Yet a decent source at the NFF told NationSport last night that Rohr had been paid in accordance with the agreement between both parties after his contract was renewed in 2018.

“It is true Rohr had been paid, and he was paid in naira in line with the terms he signed when his contract was being renewed,” explained a top NFF official who is privy to the details of the contract. “He agreed to the terms (when his contract was renewed) and his salary had been paid in naira ever since the renewal.”

However, a confidant of Rohr has since faulted NFF over such indiscretion as the German no longer has business or employment in Nigeria, adding such blunders had been the hallmark of the football federation in recent times.

“You are asking what would Rohr do now? Obviously, you can’t pay a foreigner who is no longer in your employment with your own local currency especially when he is not a resident of your country,” an associate of the German said yesterday. “You know he has petitioned FIFA over his unpaid wages and allowances earlier, and you should expect that his lawyers would follow up with this unfortunate action by the NFF.”

But the NFF believed that Rohr and his team might just be playing on the whims of emotion with words rife that the German has a multiple entry visa (into Nigeria) that is valid until June 2022.

“Is Rohr a permanent resident of Nigeria,” another source close to the former Bayern Munich defender asked rhetorically? “The NFF should have acted in good faith by sending the money directly to him in France where he can easily access it.

“Anyway, his lawyers will handle this mess and I don’t know what the NFF wants to gain by paying him in naira in the first instance,” he queried.