John Mikel Obi fined $5,000 for missing deadline

Chelsea midfielder Mikel Obi will be fined 5,000 dollars for missing the Tuesday deadline to report to the Super Eagles' camp in Abuja.

Team Media Officer, Mr Colin Udoh, said on Tuesday in Abuja that Eagles officials were unimpressed with the player and had handed down the fine to the player.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Eagles are preparing for their Final Round Group B match in the 2012 African Nations Cup qualifying competition.

The team on Tuesday morning had its first training session after it opened camp on Monday in Abuja, with only 12 players available for a warm-up.

The number of players in camp, however, swelled to 21 for the afternoon training session, with Obi the only player absent out of the 22 players invited to camp.

"All players were expected to show up by lunch-time on Tuesday, but Obi called to inform officials that he would only come in on Wednesday as he needed time to attend to family matters."

Udoh told NAN that the fine was standard practice, even as the player was still being expected to arrive in camp on Wednesday.

"The fine is for being late to camp, and this is as earlier agreed by all involved with the team."

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