John Mikel Obi, the Captain of Team Nigeria to the Rio Olympics has denied reports that he gave $30,000 to his teammates in the U-23 football team. The team is camping at the Hyatt Place in Atlanta, USA. 

 Mikel said, “I was first told of this unfortunate story by a friend who called me from Nigeria. I thought he was joking until he sent me the link. I don’t know the source of this story which to me is all out to divide us as a team. I would have thought that stories that should be coming out in the media are stories that will unite the team instead of dividing us. Our target in Rio is to excel, but if they continue like this, then I wonder how we can be united.”

Mikel also said that none of them is hungry “Tell me the players who are in this team that are so hungry that will be looking up to me for survival? Is it (William) Ekong, (Oghenekaro) Etebo, (Shehu) Abdulahi, (Daniel) Akpeyi, (Kingsley) Madu, (Okechukwu) Azubuike or (Stanley) Amuzie, who are my team mates in the Super Eagles, that I will be donating to, or other players who are plying their trade abroad and are doing well for themselves? To me, this is just mere distraction that won’t help this team going into a major tournament like the Olympics.”