Nigeria FA technical director Austin Eguavoen has been forced to deny he interfered with the selection of the Super Eagles squad after an outcry over the snub for in-form Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers.
Dessers was named in Nigeria's provisional squad for the vital World Cup double-headers against Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
However, Nigerian fans were outraged when his name was left out of the final squad, with manager Eric Chelle ditching Dessers despite him being Nigeria’s second-highest goalscorer in Europe this season after netting 22 goals for Rangers in all competitions.
Nigeria selected Galatasaray's Victor Osimhen, Bayer Leverkusen ace Victor Boniface, ex-Rangers flop Umar Sadiq who is on loan at Valencia and Genk's Tolu Arokodare instead.
And former international defender Eguavoen - who was previously Nigeria manager and is now their technical director - has been forced to deny there was any outside influence in the squad selection.
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He said: "I want Nigerians to get clarity on something.
"A senior national team manager anywhere in the world has the final say on who he wants on his list.
"We can interact, we cannot interfere. If he says no, it’s no.
"So I will say Eric Chelle took his time to prepare this list and he has the final say.
"He has a pool of about 45 to 50 Nigerian players abroad. So, it’s his discretion, and he has been monitoring these players on the provisional list. He knows his players - it’s his choice to make. So, there was no interference."
