JAY-JAY Okocha's African Nations Cup preparations were clouded by uncertainty on Monday when national coach Christian Chukwu insisted he must report for duty while club boss Sam Allardyce said: "He'll go when he's ready."

The revelation that Nigerian expected him at the traing camp in Faro, Portugal, came as a shock to Wanderers, who were hoping to hold on to their influential midfield star for at least another week.

Allardyce responded by to that demand by saying that Okocha "will only go when he's ready." And reports suggested Okoacha was in training with the Wanderers at Euxton!

Wanderers face Tranmere in the FA Cup on Tuesday and Portsmouth next Saturday. But Okocha as well as Arsenal's Kanu, and Joseph Yobo of Everton were being ordered to report to the training camp on Monday.

Should those clubs, and others, resist, then Chukwu says he would have no option but to report them to FIFA.

Arsenal want Kanu to remain as Dennis Bergkamp and Sylvain Wiltord are injured.

The tournament is due to start in Tunisia on January 24, and Nigeria are one of the seeded nations.

Chukwu is prepared to take a tough stance so he can get his best players on board when they announce their 22-man squad.

"The rules state that the players must be released to us 14 days before the tournament starts. We don't have a problem with that," he said from their Portuguese training camp.

"Because of that rule, we don't want the managers in England to hold back the players any more.

"We need the players to be with us by today as there are documents that have to be signed.

"Not only that, we are arranging friendlies and we need to have the English-based players involved.

"We don't want to be drawn into conflict with clubs but they have to adhere to the rules."

Chukwu believes there has been a lack of respect in England for the African Nations Cup.

"There has been a lot of conflict and that is unfortunate," he said. "It is not of our making.

"If this was England and we were talking about Euro 2004, there would be no problems.

"But with it being the African Nations Cup, there is controversy. Yet it is of similar importance to the European Championship.

"The players are being asked to report for national service for their country, which is a great honour."

Nigeria are scheduled to leave their training camp at the end of next week to set up another one in Tunisia, where they will complete their final preparations.