Nigeria Super Falcons captain Rasheedat Ajibade has expressed her displeasure at the team's shambolic preparations ahead of this year's rescheduled Women's Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
That tournament also serves as the official qualifying tournament for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup in Brazil, and there is growing concern among team members that the their lack of adequate preparation could cost them a chance to reach a record 10th tournament appearance.
In an uncharacteristically public critique of the NFF, Paris Saint-Germain striker Ajibade expressed her ire on social media, writing: "We are not just preparing for the Women's Africa Cup of Nations, we are also fighting for World Cup qualification.
"Our performance at WAFCON will determine whether we qualify for the World Cup, so why are we not preparing with the seriousness and intensity this demands? This is not something to take lightly, for God's sake!
"I can't cry. What is all this and for how long?"
Of the three official FIFA international match windows since October of last year, the Super Falcons have only utilized one, when they played two games against Cameroon, losing the first encounter 1-0 before responding strongly with a 3-1 victory in the return fixture.
They missed the previous window in October window and were all set to make it two out of two this month after reports emerged that the NFF scheduled two games against the Cape Verde Women's national team, although there was no official confirmation.
Both matches were supposedly scheduled to take place on April 15 and 18 at the Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne. However, the Cape Verde team withdrew from the games, leaving the NFF scrambling to find a replacement opponent at extremely short notice.
A top NFF official told ESPN that the reports of the games were "premature" as the federation was still in negotiations about the game when the reports emerged.
Despite that setback, there were reports that the Super Falcons are still expected to assemble in Abuja this weekend for a training camp, as the matches were intended to form part of their build-up to the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in July.
But Ajibade is not having it. She also shared a WhatsApp conversation with an unnamed official expressing her unhappiness at the haphazard nature of the proposed training camp, especially as no squad announcement had been made.
In response to a question from the anonymous official about whether she would report to camp, Ajibade was scathing: "Sir, you people are not ashamed. Camp opens on 11 of this month, where is the venue?
"No official announcement about the camp from any of the Super Falcons social media pages till now, but bloggers and promoters are posting. See how you people are treating the champions of Africa. I am so ashamed."
When the official answered with "Hmmmmm" Ajibade's response was quick and cutting: "This is not a hmmm matter, sir. Where do they want the match played, and what is today's date? Camp opens on 11, is it an emergency camp? We are just funny with women's football but it is well."
However, an NFF official who spoke anonymously to ESPN, said there would be no training camp: "Nothing like that is planned. If there was, we would have released the team list like we normally do."
Several members of the squad told ESPN that the postponement of the WAFCON may have come as a blessing in disguise for Nigeria, as the team would not have been adequately prepared to defend their title if the tournament had taken place as scheduled in March.
Out of a total of 44 teams to have taken part in at least one FIFA Women's World Cup since inception in 1991, Nigeria are one of only seven teams to have participated at every edition. United States, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Japan and Brazil are the others.
But a lack of adequate preparation means the record 10-time African champions could be in real danger of dropping out of that rarefied club.
"We were not ready last month," one player told ESPN. "Some of us players were not even ready either and it may not have been good for us."
This year's WAFCON has been scheduled to hold from July 26 to August 16 in Morocco.