They say that man is God to man. That God does not come down from His Heavenly stool to help man but uses his fellow man, through the direction of the Holy Spirit to lead man to the path of success in life.
For the greatest Nigerian-born coach ever, late Stephen Okechukwu Chinedu Keshi, that man came in the person of Group Captain Anthony Ikhazobh, now late. Group Captain Ikhazoboh was the Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association, NFA in 1984 when Keshi was playing for the sensational New Nigerian Bank Football Club of Benin, a club that took the Nigerian football scene by storm at the time.
The Super Eagles had an engagement and as usual, players were invited to camp from various clubs across the land with Keshi’s club providing a handful of them. While others reported, the players of NNB decided to remain in Benin to help their club in a local league game before reporting to the camp and thus failed to meet the deadline.
Their action, the NFA boss felt was unacceptable as he believed that national assignments should supersede that of clubs. In his view, if players are allowed to choose when they are to report to camp, then the camp will never be organised.
Nigerians were shocked when Ikhazoboh, a no nonsense Air force officer, wielded the big stick and banned Keshi and three of his team-mates, Henry Nwosu, Sunday Eboigbe and Bright Omokaro from playing for the national team as well as their club for six months.
That was the turning point for Keshi and Nigerian football. Not one to mull over his ban, Keshi, who was still brimming with his football talent, dusted his boots and headed to Cote d’Ivoire in 1985 where he joined Stade d’Abidjan. After a season, he moved camp to rival club, Africa Sports, the same club where another Super Eagles hero, late Rashidi Yekini also left his foot prints.
The Abidjan clubs, for which Keshi played a total of 35 matches (13 for Stade d’Abidjan and 22 for Africa Sports) and as a defender scored two goals each, were stepping stones for his dream trip to Europe. Fans of both clubs and Ivoriens in general will ever remember Keshi, who under a short spell, became captains, the same position he held at NNB and every other club he played as well as the senior national team.
His leadership qualities which he displayed all through his playing and coaching career is even buttressed by a mourning fan who spoke on a local radio in Lagos last week. According to the fan, Keshi was captain of their team back in the days as seven year olds playing on the streets.
Keshi from then opened the floodgate for Nigerian footballers seeking the proverbial greener pastures in foreign clubs with Rashidi Yekini and Henry Nwosu joining the Abidjan train later.
The Ilah-born footballer after just two seasons in Cote d’Ivoire journeyed to Europe and landed in Belgium to pitch tent with Lokeren, the same club his Super Eagles team-mate Samson Siasia also played for.
Other notable Super Eagles players who were drawn to Belgium after Keshi made his mark there included Sunday Oliseh, Austin Eguavoen, Peter Rufai and Etim Esin. Apart from Esin, Siasia, Oliseh, Rufai and Eguavoen, like Keshi, rose to become captains of the Eagles in their days.
Another co-incident of the Keshi magic on his colleagues is that his success in the Eagles have continued to rub off on them with Eguavoen, Siasia and recently Oliseh going on to also become coaches of the Super Eagles.
It will not be wrong to say that the enormous talent, dedication and discipline displayed by Keshi in the Belgian league caused football scouts all over Europe to turn their radar to Nigeria and Africa to recruit raw football talents that abound here, with the assistance of Keshi.
His abode became a trade post sort of, with Nigerian and African players going through him. That was how Ghanaian prodigy, Nii Odartey Lamptey found his way to Keshi and like he said while mourning the Nigerian hero, Keshi became many things to him, father, mentor, guarding angel, etc.
While speaking on a local radio in Accra, Ghana, Lamptey said, “”I stayed with him for a minimum of six months and he fed me on daily basis, encouraged me and all that.
He did a lot for me. My first contract I signed in Europe – Belgium he went with me and signed the contract for me. What he’s done for me I can’t pay him back. I appreciate him a lot.”
Keshi had the longest span of his club career with Anderlecht which he joined after Lokeren. He was there from 1987 to 1991 and had a total of 99 appearances, scoring 18 goals even as a central defender who wore his trademark number 4 jersey.
After he left Belgium, he went through RC Strasbourg in France and starred for other clubs including Sacremento Scorpions in the USA where he played with compatriot and Eagles team-mate Austin Eguavoen before he retired in 1998.
One attribute Keshi had and which often brought him headlong with the football authorities is standing up for his rights and that of his team-mates, especially in the area of their allowances and match bonuses. He believes players who do the most work should get better welfare than administrators who, often times, stay in cosy offices and apartments.
One of such occasions was shortly before the Confederations Cup in Brazil when he was accused of inciting the players to protest the non payment of their allowances. Another was before the second round match against France at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Nigerians still believe till date that the time spent in sharing their allowances which was taken to them in Brazil by then sports minister, Dr. Tammy Danagogo on the orders of the presidency, cost them that match.
Whatever people may say about Keshi, he remains the best thing that ever happened to Nigerian football. He was the first Eagles captain who led the team to qualify for the World Cup for the first time. He didn’t stop there. He is also on record as the first Nigerian coach to take the Eagles to the second round of the World Cup.
Another feather to his cap is being the first Nigerian coach to win the Africa Nations Cup. He also joined Egyptian, Mahmoud El-Gohary as the only two Africans who won the Nations Cup as a player and as a coach. Keshi did these in 1994 in Tunisia as a player and in South Africa in 2013 as a coach.
The 2013 victory remained dear to his heart till the day he died because, according to him, nobody, not even his employers, gave him any chance. But he believed in himself and gambled with the inclusion of rookies from the local league and went to South Africa and conquered Africa.
He was disappointed when, despite his historic feat at the Nations Cup, his employers toyed with the idea of replacing him with a foreign coach even while the event was still on. As a result, moments after he lifted the trophy in South Africa, he announced he was resigning as Eagles coach.
An embarrassed Federal Government had to wade in and made him rescind his decision, an action his employers swallowed with a deflated ego but never forgave him. They refused to renew his contract and created banana peels on his track after Dr Danagogo recalled him to tinker the Eagles on the 2015 Nations Cup qualifiers when the leadership of the NFF were embroiled in succession crisis.
Keshi saw the hand writing on the wall while playing a match against Sudan in Abuja. Despite winning that match, placard-carrying fans, apparently hired to do so, chanted songs against Keshi and pelted him with urine-filled ‘Pure’ water sachets. He took it in his stride and carried on until the final nail was hit after Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2015 Nations Cup following the 2-2 draw against South Africa in Uyo late 2014.
Keshi remains a legend and this shows in the records he amassed. In his football career, he played for 11 clubs across Africa, Europe and America in a space of close to 20 years. His total appearances for these clubs and country stand at 386 during which he scored a total of 51 goals. His most appearance was for Anderlecht, 99 times and 18 goals while he starred 64 times for the Eagles and scored 9 goals.
In the words of former Green Eagles icon and captain, Chief Segun Odegbami (MON), “Stephen Keshi, without question, stands out as one of the greatest Nigerian football heroes of all times. Nigeria must immortalise him in ways that will make him truly rest in perfect peace.”
Keshi ‘rebelled’ for many causes and if per chance he returns to this world, he would want to ‘rebel’ again so he could get banned, by another Ikhazoboh, if the Air Force officer who did it before can’t be found. This is because his rebellion in his first life brought fame and glory.
Source: Vanguard
Story: By Patrick Omorodion
