Raphael Kibe, Charge d’affaires of the Nigerian embassy in Tokyo broke the news of the donation in a letter dated 18 August.
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Dr. Takasu will give head coach of the team Samson Siasia the sum of US$ 200,000 while captain of the team Mikel Obi will take home the sum of US$120,000.
However, indications emerged Saturday afternoon that some NFF officials had “hijacked” the process and demanded that Mr. Takasu must hand the money to them for onward disbursement to team members.
The denial comes on the heels of alarming post of former goalkeeper Idah Peterside, who alleged that the NFF officials had “hijack” the cash donation.
Katsuya Takasu had promised each player of the Nigerian U-23 team $30, 000 if they win the gold in the men’s soccer event and will pay the team $20, 000 dollars for silver and $12,000 for bronze.
Idah had tweeted before the game that the NFF wanted to hijack the money.
Takasu, who is said to be an ardent Nigerian football supporter made the donation to support the players who have been facing financial mess.
“I got in touch with the Ambassador of Nigeria to Brazil and the Honourable Minister to say that whatever had to be done should be done after the bronze medal match to avoid any distractions”.
“The NFF may be having financial challenges, but I assure you nobody in the Federation is interested in that money”.
“The NFF has not collected any money from Japanese plastic surgeon, Dr. Katsuya Takasu, as against the misinformation by Mr. Idah”, the NFF said in a post on its Twitter handle Saturday afternoon. “The checks must be concluded and we are given a go-ahead to collect by the government”.
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“I read about the financial problems affecting the team and I felt the need to make a big contribution”, Mr. Takasu told the BBC earlier this week.
