Super Eagles legend Sunday Oliseh has criticized the current generation of Nigerian players for not respecting their predecessors, Soccernet.ng reports.
This comes after Victor Osimhen’s recent controversial social media outburst against Finidi George, indicating a growing divide between current and former Nigeria internationals.
Oliseh, one of Nigeria’s greatest-ever midfielders, believes the current players lack the respect his generation had for those who came before them.
Oliseh pointed out that his generation always showed great respect for their predecessors.
He noted how they used honorary titles for older players, such as calling Segun Odegbami “Big Sheg” and Christian Chukwu “the Chairman,” instead of using their first names.
“It boils down to respect,” Oliseh told Nigerian journalist Matthew Edafe on Elegbete TV.
“The current generations, the ones who see themselves as stars, have little respect for those who came before them. Especially those who came before them that are bigger than them. Not every generation is like that, nobody from my generation ever calls the 1980 generation by name.
“Like you see Mr. Segun Odegbami, we don’t call him Segun or Odegbami; we call him Big Sheg. You see Captain Christian Chukwu of the 1980s; we don’t call him Chukwu; we call him the Chairman because he was the chairman of the defence back then.
“The same with Mr Adokie Amesimaka; we don’t call him Adokie Amesimaka; we call him the name of the legal system (Chief Justice). It’s a sign of respect.”
Oliseh also shared an instance where he had a disagreement with Odegbami, a member of Nigeria’s 1980 AFCON-winning team after the latter criticised him in an article.
Despite feeling hurt, Oliseh maintained his respect for Odegbami and resolved the issue privately.
“That doesn’t mean that that generation did not fault us,” Oliseh continued. “Mr. Odegbami has written some articles, even against my person, that I felt were so bad and so badly informed, wrong and hurtful.
“I didn’t go out there and start shouting Segun Odegbami, Segun Odegbami, no. One time I called him and I told him ‘Big Shegs nawao, why you go talk this kind thing.'”
Oliseh was a key member of the Super Eagles squad that won the AFCON in 1994 and made a remarkable impact on Nigeria’s debut appearance at the World Cup that year.
