Super Eagles goalkeepers trainer Ike Shorunmu and assistant coach Finidi George have been told by the Nigeria Football Federation not to join the squad for the 2023 AFCON double-header qualifiers against Guinea Bissau.

According to punch news paper, It was learnt that the duo were barred from the team’s camp on the request of Portuguese head coach Jose Peseiro and both will not be available for the games against the Bissau Guineans.

With the players and backroom staff expected to start arriving camp on Monday (today) ahead of the game against the Djurtus, Shorunmu told The PUNCH that himself and Finidi had been told to stay away from the camp.

“Finidi called me on Sunday morning asking me if I got a message from the NFF, and I told him I didn’t get any message from them,” Shorunmu said.

“He then told me he a got a message on Saturday night, that he should not bother to come to camp, that they are rotating his position for another coach to stand in. That is (Usman) Abdallah to replace Finidi.

“However, on Sunday afternoon, someone called me from NFF to also inform me that the top officials of the NFF want to inform me that Peseiro doesn’t want to work with me but with the U-20 goalkeeper coach. I had to ask the person if this treatment was as a result of us not having contracts with the NFF, because we had been asking them to give us an official contract and we haven’t been paid.

“I had called Finidi back to inform him about my situation as well. It was so sad that we ended up laughing at each other.”

On May 15, 2022, the NFF, after parting ways with Franco-German Gernot Rohr, appointed Peseiro as the new Eagles head coach, with Finidi named the Portuguese first assistant while Shorunmu was named the goalkeepers trainer, and Abdallah third assistant, while Eboboritse Uwejamomere was named the team’s match analyst.