“From the beginning, I had three role models, all playing in the No. 5 central position; Bobby Moore of England, Franz Beckenbauer from Germany and Nigeria’s Christian Chukwu. But I had a Yugoslav Coach who asked me to pick up Jersey No. 4.”
– Stephen Okechukwu Keshi
I was in East Africa attending a Conference, when the news exploded. Africa’s black Coach and the first to take an African side to the World Cup Finals have been sacked. The shock did not stop there. Stephen Keshi and his great crew which included the “Bull”, Omokachie (still popular in Kenya) and IK Soru-sure hands would not only pack their bags; they were asked to go back to school.
With that pronouncement, Africa’s most accomplished Coach of the game was demystified and humiliated. Beg your pardon, who in this world would lecture Keshi on football and in what school in the planet? Probably he had asked for it.
After his record breaking victory during the Africa Cup of Nations, hosted by south Africa, he made clear his mission. Africa has passed the stage of being tutored by foreign Coaches. African Coaches are good and he would challenge the continent to use their indigenous Managers. Keshi also reasoned that those foreign Coaches who are brought here are normally not good, as the best Coaches are retained by the very busy European prominent leagues.
In Brazil he took a young mainly, his own newly built squad, to the best of 16 after holding his own against the best teams of the world. He returned to the Africa qualifiers and without any contract, to face stones and missiles raining from hired urchins occupying the Abuja stadium terraces.
Even though the African Conference was sitting and deliberating on a serious anti Genocide theme, most of the Presenters could not believe that the Coach who took Nigeria this far and gave pride to the continent could be humiliated by upstarts. I returned from Mombassa and was in Abuja the following day where we made instant contact with the Press. Talking to Sarah of the polished Channel TV News, we told Nigerians that Africa was in a state of mourning over the humiliation of their god of soccer. We also spent some forty-five minutes with the Cable TV CORE where we expressed our support for the Coach and called on the President and the Minister to intervene.
Two weeks later, the President in his Solomon judgment intervened, recalled the hard working Coach, maintaining that the problems that have continued to affect our football could be traced to the stone throwing green and pink officials of the Glass House. Even though he was recalled, the ugly moves and charges against Keshi continued, with very crude defamation campaign organized through the western Press all with the bid to demonize the Coach. A respected Newspaper led the libel and justified the conspiracy when the pretender stated that he had to sack Keshi to save him from the fans killing him!
Presently, we are not in any position to ascertain the cause of Stephen Keshi’s death. But the crazy news of the death of the Technical NFF Director, Amodu Shaibu few days after the demise of Keshi is frightening. Shaibu died at 58, Keshi died at 54. The two deaths occurring at the early morning hours all in Benin, the “city of blood!” While the two Coaches were really managing a generally accepted high pressure job of managing the national football squad, the nation and the fans were not for once informed that any of these top Coaches were either sick or hospitalized since their rough tenures as Head Coaches of the Green Eagles.
As a matter of fact, the Coach that always reported ill anytime he was in Nigeria, and would gradually return to good health anytime he takes off from the country, is the “insane” national Coach, Sunday Oliseh. When he eventually and wisely threw in the towel, Sunday is as fit as a needle!
On the back page of Sunday Vanguard, June 12, the paper reported that Coach Shaibu before his sudden death was a basket case. He was not only owed by the NFF but was owed money by the State. But that is not enough to kill a man.
Whatever, the most despicable action in the way of tribute to the memory of Stephen Keshi, at this time, is for these insensitive coxcombs in the Glass House to contemplate contracting a foreign Coach for our national side. This is exactly the negative direction of which Stephen Keshi had denounced all his life.
Furthermore, we have seen the foreign Coach contracted to manage Warri Wolves and the foreign Coach managing the Uba XI. They are not better than our own Coaches who are paid lesser.
The emergence of Stephen Keshi, Africa’s greatest football Coach of our time, is as a result of many years of programming, scientific management and urbane leadership. Starting from Independence, when our Sports Ministry and Officials were managed by great visionaries, we had mentioned the early success story of Chief JMJ Johnson and how he single handedly midwifed Nigeria’s winning of the world middle weight championship title in Ibadan, 1963.
Secondly, we discussed the steady progress organized by General Henry Adefope as the Minister of Labor who planned our country’s ascendancy from the ashes to the top most level in Africa. The former Minister centered his programs on preparing indigenous Coaches to eventually taking over from the foreign Coaches and taking over all our Sports. That is why Nigeria surprised the world! In fact, Nigeria plays a peculiar football just like the Italians, Brazilians, Germans, Spain, and Ghana, play their own native soccer.
When upstart policy makers who did not play the game, don’t understand it, bulldoze their way into the scene they make the calamity of comparing our soccer to the build ups they see on European league on TV. Indeed our soccer is built on a granite shield defence starring the central defenders and a fire eating Goalkeeper!
Stephen Keshi in a matter of weeks converted Kenneth Omerua from a fledging No. 2 to a world central defender. He established Musa as a dangerous ravaging attacker spewing out bullets from both legs. When he discovered Sunday Mbah, and called him in to salvage the country in South Africa, Sunday Mbah understood his mission and accomplished it. Geofrey, the young lad from Akure Sun Shine FC would not have seen the world under any foreign Coach but for that day of his destiny, when he met with the Skippo! The jejune western press had ruled out the Captain of the Squad, Michel Obi, from the Green Eagles. But when the great African Coach returned on the scene, Obi was given back his confidence. Look at his football now!
Let the lucky fellows in the Glass House go ahead and hire a foreign Coach. But let these people who would not have afforded the tickets to watch Stephen at play in his days, stop shedding crocodile tears on his death. Few hours after Keshi and Amodu’s deaths were announced the funny Glass House gladiators would immortalize the names of these dead sublime Coaches, by hiring a foreign Coach!
Nigeria set to host Indian Festival
Gaurapad Charities in collaboration with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and Indian residents in Lagos is set to host the maiden edition of the Indian festival in Nigeria titled Celebrating Cultural Unity and Diversity for National and Global Peace, at the Tafawa balewa Square, Onikan, Lagos State on August 13.
The festival will showcase both countries’ cultural extravaganza and will host 50,000 visitors from all around the world.
Chief Executive Officer of Gaurapad Charities and Chairman Organizing Committee, Bolaji Rosoji said: “ The origin of the Festival of India has an interwoven relationship with Krishna religion. The event has been in existence in other African countries like Durban, South Africa, which is one of the biggest cultural festival.
“ The festival will bring to the fore the efforts by the Federal Ministry of Culture and Tourism and its counterpart in Lagos State to turn the city into a tourist haven and generate income for the country.
The former president of Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), revealed that the festival will feature the best of Bollywood stars such as Anuradha Paudwal, Herma Malini and Babul Supriyo alongside with renowned Nigerian artistes. The festival will showcase the best of Indian fashion, Yoga, cuisine and culture as a whole and government functionaries from India will grace the occasion.
“ The festival will commence with a procession to display cultural unity and diversity for national and global peace ( Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family). It will start from CMS with three large carts down to the Tafawa Balewa Square, Onikan, Lagos.
Diwesh Mishra, Co-Chairman of the festival, added that the festival will bring renowned artistes from Bollywood and there will be a synergy with their Nigerian counterparts.