INTRIGUES THAT FORCED KESHI TO RESIGN

FACTS on why Stephen Keshi resigned his appointment as the Super Eagles coach hours after he guided the team to the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa on Sunday have emerged.

It was gathered that some stakeholders had no confidence in the ‘Big Boss’ and as such was already looking towards hiring a foreign coach which was part of the stakeholders’ agenda to nail the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

On the other hand too, Tribunesport reliably gathered that coach had not been enjoying a cordial relationship with some top officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and had no absolute trust in them. 

The source, very close to the NSC and the football house, disclosed that arrangement had been concluded with a foreign coach to take over from Keshi when they felt that he might not be able to stop Cote d’Ivoire in the quarter-final of the 2013 AFCON. This, Tribunesport gathered, didn’t go well with the ‘Big Boss’ who was said to have felt slighted.

Tribunesport gathered that the decision to hire a foreign coach was the agenda of some individuals who also believed that getting Keshi out of the way would give them the opportunity to send the NFF executive packing having failed in an earlier attempt to sack the board.

‘’Keshi’s decision to resign was as a result of lack of trust in him by the federation as they had plotted his failure after the second game at the 2013 AFCON, coupled with the fact that the stakeholders had been making contacts to hire a foreign coach to replace him. This did not go down well him and he believed the best way to press home his point was to resign his appointment,’’ the source who pleaded not to be mentioned said.

Meanwhile, Keshi has decided to continue with his job as the head coach of the Super Eagles after news filtered through on Monday that he had put in his resignation, 24 hours after guiding the Eagles to the Africa Cup of Nations title in South Africa.

This followed the resolution of the issues which he said he raised during the just concluded Africa Cup of Nations tournament in South Africa.

In a three-paragraph press release dated 12th February 2013 and signed by Keshi, a copy of which was made available to Tribunesport, the coach acknowledged that he had expressed “my displeasure over some issues that happened in the course of our participation in the AFCON 2013.” 

According to Keshi, the issues particularly had to do with “my relationship with the Nigerian (sic) Football Federation.” But he added that following the opportunity he had to discuss the “issues with all concerned, I am therefore pleased to say that I have reconsidered my position and have decided to continue with my job.” 

He specifically thanked the Minister of Sports Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi for his “swift and kind intervention” in the matter.

In a related development, the Senate President, David Mark, said that he spoke with Keshi on Tuesday who disclosed to him that he was forced to resign due to pressure from some quarters.

“I spoke with him on phone this morning (Tuesday) and he told me that he had resigned because of too much pressure.

“He said some people were pressuring him, saying he should accommodate foreign technical partners in the team,” he said.
Source: Tribune