The Director-General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Hon. Bukola Olopade, has described former Anambra State Governor and presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, as a “pathological liar” over his claim that officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) prevented him from greeting members of Nigeria’s victorious Flamingos team at the Abuja airport.

Obi had accused NFF officials of stopping him from welcoming the U-17 women’s national team following their return from Morocco, where they won the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.

However, Hon. Olopade dismissed the former governor’s account, arguing that the circumstances surrounding the team’s arrival and exit from the airport made it impossible for Obi to have encountered the players as claimed.

According to the NSC boss, the Flamingos landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at about 5:30 a.m., when it was still dark and domestic flight check-in activities had yet to commence.

He further explained that the players passed through immigration and exited through the international airport’s underground exit, insisting that Obi, who claimed to have been at the domestic terminal to board an Enugu-bound flight, could not have seen the team from his location.

“The plane landed at 5:30 a.m. It was still very dark. No local flight was checking in at that time. Even if they were checking in, there was no way Obi would have seen those children from where he was at the local airport,” Olopade said.