Rebuilding the Super Eagles: The Case for John Mikel Obi as Captain

Central to the ability of Samson Siasia to rebuild the Super Eagles will be the issue of leadership.


Without doubt, Nwankwo Kanu and Joseph Yobo in his absence have provided strong leadership in the team.

However moving forward, there is no better way to underline the reality of the new direction of the team than the selection of a new team captain.

Given the age of the current first team, and the fact that most of the players are drawn from the 2005 U-20 and Beijing Olympics team, it is my opinion that the new leadership of the team should be drawn from this core group of players.

And no player epitomizes this group as Mikel Obi. He has been with this core gropu since the U-17 championships and plays at a high level in Europe for Chelsea. In many respects, he is the face of this generation of Nigerian players and the responsibility of captain should sit very well on him.