The older brother of John Obi Mikel has made a public plea to the Nigeria FA to lift their international ban on the Chelsea midfielder.

Ebere Obi, a goalkeeper with Nigeria's Rangers, said: "I want to appeal to the NFA and Berti Vogts to forgive my brother for not showing up for the Ugandan match. He was actually injured and could not have snubbed the country.

"Mikel is a very young and upcoming player and he will make up for his mistakes."