{"id":128221,"date":"2026-07-09T08:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T07:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=128221"},"modified":"2026-07-09T08:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T07:27:11","slug":"mikel-blasts-jonathan-over-unfulfilled-afcon-land-promise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/mikel-blasts-jonathan-over-unfulfilled-afcon-land-promise\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikel Blasts Jonathan Over Unfulfilled AFCON Land Promise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>By Lizzy Chirkpi<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Former Super Eagles captain John Obi Mikel has criticised the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan over what he described as an unfulfilled promise of a plot of land awarded to members of Nigeria&#8217;s victorious 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) squad.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaking in a viral interview circulating on social media, the former Chelsea midfielder said that more than a decade after leading the Super Eagles to continental glory, he is yet to receive the land reportedly allocated to him by the Federal Government.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The plot of land President Goodluck Jonathan gave me after we won AFCON, till today I still don&#8217;t know where it is,&#8221; Mikel said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The former Nigeria international also questioned the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) over attempts to involve him in the administration of the game despite what he described as the federation&#8217;s failure to ensure that promises made to the 2013 AFCON-winning team were fulfilled.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;And these same people are calling me to come and work with the NFF,&#8221; he added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nigeria won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations after defeating Burkina Faso 1-0 in the final in Johannesburg, South Africa, to claim the country&#8217;s third continental title.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Following the victory, the administration of then President Goodluck Jonathan announced a package of rewards for members of the squad, including national honours, cash gifts and plots of land in recognition of their achievement.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, Mikel&#8217;s latest comments suggest that at least some of the promises made to members of the victorious team remain outstanding more than 13 years after the historic triumph.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Neither the Federal Government nor the Nigeria Football Federation had responded to Mikel&#8217;s claims as of the time of filing this report.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lizzy Chirkpi Former Super Eagles captain John Obi Mikel has criticised the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan over what he described as an unfulfilled promise of a plot&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":128222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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