Super Eagles defender, Azubuike Egwuekwe, has made a bold declaration that Nigeria despite not qualifying for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations which kicks off in Equatorial Guinea this weekend is far better than most teams that will be on parade at the biennial football tournament.

Egwuekwe who is currently in the United Arab Emirates where the Super Eagles B are playing friendly matches​,​ said it was quite unfortunate that defending champions, Nigeria​,​ is missing in action​. But he was also quick to boast that the Eagles will not just return for the next edition but will back to win again.

“We know we are better than most of the teams that are going to the Nations Cup but we made mistakes along the line and we must thank Nigerians for forgiving us and also thank the NFF for being forward looking despite the mishap, we will reward them next time with another Nations Cup win”, the towering defender who currently plays for Nigeria Premier League side Warri Wolves stated.

On his part, goalkeeper- Chigozie Agbim said he and his home Eagles teammates are delighted the NFF and Nigerians indeed have commendably gotten the AFCON miss behind as evident in their move to start a rebuilding process that has seen domestic league players take a trip to the UAE where they are availed the chance to use first class facilities and also been expose in the course of the friendly games.

“We must say a big thank you to the NFF for this visionary move and all we can say is forgive the team for not qualifying and we vow that it will never happen again in our time”, Agbim declared.

Sixteen teams are already in Equatorial Guinea to see who succeeds Nigeria as the new AFCON kings.