John Fashanu (Nigerian sports ambassador) revealed the motivation on Radio 5, "His Excellency the new high commissioner does not want confrontation. He wants to promote Nigeria. We obviously want to bring Nigeria closer to Great Britain." David Dein has apparently confirmed that Arsenal have received a fax from the Prince giving permission for Kanu to play. And he has accepted Arsenal's invitation to bring his sons to the match (altogether everyone, "One Bola Ajibola, there's only one Bola Ajibola....")

Fashanu implied that the fact that the coach has a lot of respect for the high commissioner would have been a factor in his agreeing to go along with the U turn. But we suspect that the coach was on Kanu's side all along, and will have been glad to find sufficiently high-placed support to win over the Nigerian FA. See previous coverage.

Our sources actually go further, and suggest that the story about the high commissioner is little more than a face-saving exercise by the NFA. We are told that everyone at the training camp, players and coaches, was happy for Kanu to play tomorrow, and that this has been just the latest in a long series of confrontations between the politicians of the NFA and those actually involved in the football side of things. At the end of the day, someone higher up realised that with the Nations Cup looming, it was the latter group of people who most needed to be kept happy.

Let us hope, for Nigeria's sake and for ours, that Kanu doesn't pick up an injury against the Foxes.