EXPOSED! ‘Perumal Has Been Fixing Matches For Nigeria Since Atlanta 1996′

Nigerians are still doubting claims made by self-confessed Singaporean match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal (WRP) in his book ‘Kelong Kings’ that he helped arranged the Super Eagles’ qualification to the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa.

On Tuesday, the NFF had through its General Secretary Musa Amadu denied Perumal’s claims and threatened to take “action” against him.

“The NFF will only say at this moment that there was no truth to the claim and that we had nothing to do with Perumal all through the Super Eagles’ qualifying series for 2010 FIFA World Cup.

“If the book impugns on the image of the Nigeria Football Federation, our players and the larger image of our dear country, we will take appropriate action.”

But exclusive information provided to Pulse Sports by Invisible Dog, an independent group of journalists based in Rome, Italy, suggests that the match-fixing relationship between the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) and Perumal’s agency started since Atlanta 1996, where Nigeria won gold in football.

“The first game WRP and other fixers tried to manipulate with Nigerians goes back to the Atlanta 1996 Olympics. The game was against Brazil. They talked to a few delegation members before the match, piad them 100 thousand dollars in advance, but the result the fixers wanted was not delivered and they collected their money back,” Invisible Dog told Pulse Sports.

In a detailed email to Pulse Sport, they chronicled a match-fixing partnership that now puts under doubt almost every tournament Nigeria has ever participated in since the late 90s:

“The second instance with Nigerian national team players was during the 2007 Women’s World Cup in China. Nigeria vs North Korea, 0-2.

“The third was the Inter Continental Cup tournament held in Malaysia in 2008. They fixed the Nigeria vs Iraq match, even though the match-fixers had asked a 0-0 scoreline and a Nigerian player, who was later sacked from the Beijing 2008 Olympics’ line-up, scored a penalty in the late stages of the game.”

“The BBC article on the Beijing Olympics fixing refers to spot-fixing but does not name names. Well, WRP and his associates, through contacts in the Nigerian delegation, managed to win two bets on who would kick off the games vs Belgium and Argentina.”

“Mid-July 2009 Nigeria U-20 invited to an invitational youth tournament held in Egypt organized by WRP to prepare for the Under 20 FIFA World Cup.”

“Nigeria vs North Korea WC warm-up friendly. WRP reassures the members of the Nigerian delegation that they are going to win the fixture because his syndicate is controlling the ref.

Invisible Dog also rubbished NFF’s denial and alleged that Nigerians are yet to know the truth of the matter.

“The NFF did not read the allegations contained in the book, nor did the journalists who posed them the questions.”

“We believe both press and officials should be confronted with the facts before rebuking them.”

While Pulse Sports cannot guarantee the validity of any of Invisible Dogs’ claims, it is evident that a lot is yet unknown to the average Nigerian.

Hence we pose this question again: Is NFF telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth? If Yes/No, what actions should be taken? Should we trust the words of a convicted match fixer?