Stephen Keshi
Nigerians
have continued to react on the sacking of Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi
by the Nigeria Football Federation. A former Director-General of the
National Sports Commission, Patrick Ekeji, said on Sunday that the
football federation was right by terminating the appointment.
Ekeji argued that the federation had no
confidence in the coach and the right thing to do was to part ways in
the interest of the nation.
“The NFF have done what they should have done before,” the former Green Eagles defender said.
“They lost confidence in Keshi a long
time ago, and when you don’t have confidence in your employee, there is
no way you can work together.
“I have said it before that they should
take a decision on time and I am happy they have done that. They should
start looking for a new coach immediately and if they already have one,
he should begin work without any delay.”
The
NFF at the weekend terminated the appointment of Keshi after spending
two months in his two-year contract. He led the team against Chad in
their 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in June.
Another former Eagles midfielder, Garba
Lawal, wants former Nigeria international, Sunday Oliseh, to be employed
as the new coach of the team while backing the NFF for their action.
Although the NFF has said that the
Technical Director of the federation, Shaibu Amodu, and Keshi’s
assistant, Salisu Yusuf, should handle the team in the interim, Lawal
believes that they should get a permanent coach to fill the void as soon
as possible.
He said, “I believe the NFF took their decision based on what they have. It is not an issue that should be dragged for long.
“What we should consider next is who will coach the team. The position is vacant and a coach is needed to fill the void.”
Lawal believes a coach in the capacity of Oliseh, will make the desired impact in the team.
“The NFF should begin now to look for a
coach because it is now obvious we don’t have one. Those acting in the
temporary capacity will have it at the back of their minds that they are
still temporary,” he said.
“They should get someone in the mould of
Oliseh. He is a world-class coach, who has seen it at all levels of the
game. Oliseh is living outside the country and has the same credential
as any foreign coach that we may want to hire. We don’t need any
foreigner for the team. Some of them probably don’t even have his
pedigree.
“The NFF should contact him and if he is interested in coaching the Eagles, I believe he is the best candidate for the team.”
But another former Nigeria international,
Emeka Ezeugo, disagrees with them. Instead he has condemned the NFF’s
decision, saying it poses a potential danger for the team’s plan to
qualify for the 2017 AFCON.
“We don’t need all these distractions in
our football, not when we need to concentrate on how to qualify for the
next Nations Cup,” Ezeugo said on Sunday.
“It was frivolous for anyone to travel to
Ivory Coast just to confirm if Keshi applied for a job or not. Did that
not cost tax payers’ money? They didn’t trek to Ivory Coast. Even if
they had, would they not have spent any money?
“They have the right to fire Keshi, but they can do that without travelling to Ivory Coast. It was unwarranted.”
Ezeugo said the NFF had decided to sack Keshi long before he was given a new contract in April.
“Before Nigeria lost in the qualifiers
for the 2015 Nations Cup, I warned them to leave the coach and the team
alone but they didn’t listen. Eventually, we failed to qualify. The
bickering was responsible for our failure. I fear it might repeat itself
this time.”
Keshi’s removal as the Eagles coach was
indeed a matter of time given his fractious reign as the ‘Big Boss’ of
the team. One of his major undoing was his alleged backing from
politicians. His removal and then return under this board of the NFF was
traced to then President Goodluck Jonathan. His employers could only
watch as a manager they practically did not believe in was forced on
them.
Despite the popular demand by Nigerians
for his exit after the country failed to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup
of Nations, the original sacking was reversed with ridiculous excuses
from the NFF for the unprecedented recall.
Those who understood the power play in
Abuja explained to The PUNCH that Keshi’s connection to the Presidency
rested on the links provided by former Senate President David Mark and
Ita Ekpeyong, who lost his position as the Director General of the
Directorate of State Security Service only a few days ago. It was the
Keshi/Ekpeyong friendship that allegedly got former NFF boss Aminu
Maigari detained just as he returned from the Brazil 2014 World Cup and
also got Amaju Pinnick’s passport seized, preventing him from travelling
for the final match of the African Women’s Championship in Namibia last
year.
The NFF officials had also complained
bitterly about Keshi’s endless and costly experiments just as Nigeria
prepared to play Chad last month in an Africa Nations Cup qualifying
match. The original budget for the game in Kaduna was a whopping N120m.
“And this is because of Keshi’s endless
rebuilding process. How can we invite players from all over the world
for just this game and worse is that he is bringing in fresh players to
start another experiment that will lead us to further experiments at the
Nations Cup final or the World Cup,” an NFF official said.
In Kaduna only a scanty few from the list
that won the country the 2013 African Cup were used for the game. It
was a similar situation in Brazil last year, where players like Michael
Uchebo and Gabriel Reuben made the World Cup while players like
Ikechukwu Uche and Sunday Mba were left out.
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