While speaking on Enyimba’s preparation towards the CAF Confederation Cup play-off tie against Al Ittihad of Libya, Finidi noted that reports linking Mikel to Enyimba were untrue.

George explained “That of Mikel Obi’s report I am not aware of anything of that such and I don’t think he will be coming to Enyimba. We are preparing for the tie, as usual, have the players always focused on the bigger picture and not be distracted. Even if there will be another camping, that will be held in Aba. We won’t be going out of Aba for now.”

The former Super Eagles winger pointed out that they would be targeting two victories from their upcoming games with Al Ittihad on November 28th and December 5th.

Enyimba defeated AS Diambars of Senegal 4-0 on aggregate in the first round of the competition.

Oladapo was initially banned for one year by CAF for testing positive for prednisolone in a test conducted in May.

The initial ban meant he would stay away from all football-related activities until July 2022, but following an appeal, the midfielder has now been cleared to return on January 5 by the CAF Appeals Committee.

In his defence, Oladapo maintained that any trace of the substances found in his blood sample would have been from the anti-Covid19 medications he was taking at the time. Also, his club, Enyimba, in testimony maintained the same stance, arguing that their captain would not purposely take a banned substance and had no prior doping record.

After the hearing on Wednesday, September 22, a statement from the CAF Appeals Committee read;

“The Board has decided to reduce the sanction of player Oladapo Augustine from one year to six (6) months. Therefore the player Oladapo Augustine is suspended from taking part in any football-related activities until 4th January 2022.”

The 50-year-old will replace coach Fatai Osho who led the Aba Elephants to a second-place finish in the recently concluded 2020-21 season of the Nigeria Professional Football League.

Finidi was a key member of the Ajax team that won three Eredivisie titles, the 1995 UEFA Champions League, the European Super Cup, and the Intercontinental Cup.

He was capped 62 times by Nigeria’s Super Eagles from 1991 to 2002, winning the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia with the Super Eagles.

Finidi retired from active football in 2004 and has since pursued his dreams of being a coach by acquiring a UEFA B license.

Another player identified as Emma James, who escaped the attack confirmed the abduction.

He said “We were traveling on the road when the gunmen came out from the bush and attacked us. They shot sporadically before abducting some people in the vehicle including the two players but I managed to escape.”

The state Police Spokesperson, Tee-Leo Ikoro confirmed the abduction and also said that one of the players have been rescued.

Ikoro added “We have been able to rescue one of the players and our men are already in the bush after the kidnappers. I will get the details of incident as soon as I get the information from the DPO of Ipele.”