Onigbinde was reacting to accusations from the former AC Milan defender that “he had no business coaching Nigeria” at the 2002 World Cup finals in Korea and Japan.
The 73-year-old who also managed Nigeria between 1982 and 1984 said he never wanted to include Taribo in his team in 2002 but was forced to change his mind after the defender “begged” to be taken to the competition.
“Taribo was sending people to beg me to bring him into the team and that was the greatest mistake I made. He sent (former national team goal keeper), Dosu Joseph to meet me in Scotland when we had a friendly match and begged me to bring him into the team. If Taribo was not in my team, I would have gotten to the final of that World Cup,” Onigbinde told supersport.com.
Taribo was then singled out for scathing criticism for the role he played in the solitary goal Nigeria conceded in her first game at the 2002 World Cup against Argentina.
“I had a one-hour meeting with the players before our first match against Argentina.
“I extensively discussed set plays and instructed the players on how to deal with the tricky Argentines in such situations.
“The goal (Gabriel) Batistusta scored was from a corner and Taribo bluntly ignored my pre-game instructions and allowed him to score.
“I still do not know if Taribo did that intentionally because he was just standing and watching as Batistuta majestically rose and planted his header, unchallenged.
“If we had drawn against Argentina, I am convinced Nigeria have reached the final of that competition.
“ In our second game against Sweden, Taribo West also contributed to the two goals they scored against us so you could see why I still regret taking him to the World Cup.
“He was primarily responsible for Nigeria’s failure to progress to the final of the 2002 Fifa World Cup.
“I decided to drop him for the final group match against England and that was why we had our best performance,” Onigbinde added.
Taribo had also accused Onigbinde of playing a role in the sacking of former coach, Amodu Shuaibu after the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations in Mali but Onigbinde dismissed the claims as “completely baseless”.
“Those allegations? They are completely baseless,” he said.
“When the Super Eagles were going to Mali, the Nigeria Football Federation selected four of us; Alabi Aissien, Christo Davis and Paul Hamilton were there to assist me in analyzing their games played by the team and forwarding our observations to the coach and the members of his backroom staff.
“It was standard procedure as we were members of the technical department.
“During one of their games, at half time, I went to the dressing room to pass a message from the technical department through a note.
“I did not ask Amodu to stop talking to the players. I just quietly passed the note to Keshi who read it, tore it into pieces and threw into the waste bin.
“I said nothing and quietly moved away.
“Afterwards, I went to Europe for a while only to hear stories that the team had been disbanded and that the coaches had been sacked.
“I started receiving calls asking that I should come and take over the team.
“What happened was that at that time, I was acting as the technical director. I was appointed after going through an interview.
“The standard process then was that if the federation had any problem with the coaching crew, the technical director would be mandated to take over.
“That was three months to the world cup. Initially, I was reluctant but I I later accepted due to the interest of the nation,” he said.
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