By Osasu Obayiuwana BBC Sport

Oruma says he will focus on his club career

Midfielder Wilson Oruma has declared that his exclusion from the list of players competing for a place in Nigeria's 2004 Nations Cup squad is unjustified.

Oruma, who plays for French first division side Sochaux, insists that his form over the last two seasons has earned him the right to fight for a shirt.

"I'm not being fairly treated by my country," Oruma told the BBC Sport website in an exclusive interview before Sochaux's league tie against Nice on Saturday.

"Based on my form with my club, I think that I merit a chance to compete with my other colleagues for a place on the Nations Cup team.

I'm not being fairly treated by my country Wilson Oruma

"But it appears that playing good football for your club on a regular basis is not enough to earn a call-up to the national team."

Oruma, who made the 2002 Nations Cup side at a late stage but failed to get a spot on the 2002 World Cup team, said that the coaches' decision not to invite him to compete for a Tunisia 2004 place has left him embittered.

"It is very painful when you deserve something and it is not being given to you.

"People have asked me why I was not invited and I do not know what to say to them.

"I was dropped from the World Cup team [without good reason] at the very last minute and I took it in good faith.

"But everyone back home watches European football games on the television and can fairly assess whether I am good enough for the national team.

"It appears that an invitation depends on whom you know but I will not bow down to any man," Oruma said.

Oruma, who captained Nigeria to the Fifa under-17 World Championship in 1993, said he is interested to know the reasons for his exclusion from manager Christian Chukwu.

"If I have the chance to speak to him, I would want to know what he has against me and why I have been denied a chance to fight for a shirt?

"I've never had any problems with him or refused an invitation to play for him," Oruma claimed.

The midfielder said that he has been left with no choice but to concentrate on his career with Sochaux but hopes that the Super Eagles perform well in Tunisia.