Most Nigerians said they were left disappointed when Mikel Obi was not crowned Africa Footballer of 2013 on Thursday.
Cote d’Ivoire Yaya Toure scooped a third straight African Footballer of the Year in Lagos ahead of home boy Mikel.
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Aminu Maigari said he was disappointed Mikel did not win the award and faulted the procedure used for the award.
“I am disappointed that Mikel did not get this award. We have to review the procedure that is used to determine the winner of this award,” Maigari said.
The national team coaches of the 54-member countries vote for 10 nominated players on a scale of 1-10 points with their top pick getting 10 points, while their least considered nominee gets a point.
The cross section of fans who spoke with MTNFootball.com also said Mikel deserved the award more than Yaya Toure.
Temitope Oguntoyinbo said Mikel made a bigger impact on African football last year than the Manchester City star.
"Yaya Toure is a good player no doubt but I think Mikel merit the award more than him, he was robbed, Oguntoyinbo argued.
“Mikel was outstanding at the Nations cup even against Toure in the quarterfinal. He played well at FIFA confederation and won the Europa League. Yaya didn't impress in games concerning Africa. I feel for Mikel."
Another fan, Idris Olamilekan said 2013 was Mikel’s year, but most Francophone countries decided to vote Mikel out and go for their own.
"I feel bad Mikel didn't win, he did everything right last week to win it. I think he lost it because Francophone countries decided to vote for their own Yaya Toure,” he maintained.
“Yaya is a good player but was not ahead of Mikel last year. May be CAF need to do something about how the winner is selected."
The coaches of the African countries were unanimous in their choice of Yaya with 28 of them picking him as their best, while only four teams including Nigeria voted Mikel.
However, former Nigeria international Jonathan Akpoborie said Yaya was a worthy winner of the award.
"Without sentiments, Yaya is Africa's best by a mile," Akpoborie declared.
"I never had any doubts about him winning, although I truly wanted Mikel to win for Nigeria again. We all see the talent of Yaya Toure week in, week out, he is truly a gem.”
Dele Ogunleye told MTNFootball.com said the Ivorian was ahead of his Nigerian rival.
"I like Mikel and I'm also a Chelsea fan, so I wanted him to win the award, but Yaya is a revelation! He deserves it more that our own Mikel,” he said.
“I heard a lot of people saying Mikel was robbed, to me that's not true, Yaya was outstanding even at the Nations Cup and for his club. He scored lot of goals too. Individually, he has done better than Mikel."
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