Ex-Nigeria international, Adokiye Amiesimaka, has lashed out at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) ahead of today's final of the U-17 African Youth Championship, blaming them for the age cheating in the Flying Eaglets squad.

Amiesimaka blamed the NFF claiming they deliberatelyÂ use over-age player in age group competition that has brought shame to the country.

Three Nigerian players disqualified for age cheating at the start of the competition massively embarrassing the country even though they will face Ivory Coast in the final on Saturday.

Amiesimaka, a member of the defunct Green Eagles squad that won the 1980 Nations Cup in Nigeria, said that the disqualification was because of NFFâ€™s inability to desist from cheating at age grade competitions.

â€œIt is a national embarrassment to have three of our players disqualified at the championship,â€™â€™ Amesimaka, a former Attorney General of Rivers, said. Wilfred Ndidi, Ibrahim Abdullahi and Emmanuel Asadu, were banned from the championship for failing the Magnetic Resonnance Imaging (MIR) test, as a result of age falsification.

Amiesimaka said that the NFF should do away with cheating at age-grade competitions, in other to avoid soiling Nigeriaâ€™s reputation at international tournaments.

â€œIt is a shame for an African football giant to be caught cheating at competitions. I mean, what sort of example are we portraying to the international football body?â€ he said.

The former national player explained that age grade competitions were developmental and were meant to service the countryâ€™s senior teams.

â€œIt is, however, unfortunate that we (Nigeria) are still missing the point. Junior competitions are not a must-win affair, but a preparatory ground to enable young talents to graduate to the senior team.

â€œThese young players are supposed to be the nurtured as materials for the Super Eagles,â€ he said

According to him, the Golden Eaglets had the potential to excel without necessarily having to cheat.

He, therefore, advised the NFF to put its house in order, to avoid such occurrences in future.

NAN reports three players each from Cote dâ€™Ivoire and Congo Democratic Republic were also disqualified for the same reason at the championship.