Keshi and Enyeama in the NFF dock

Nigerian football has taken a bashing of late both on
and off the field. From the Flying Eagles’ premature exit
from the U-20 World Cup in New Zealand, to the Super
Falcons’ first round exit from the Women’s World Cup
in Canada.
In fairness, the Falcons were in the toughest group of
the tournament. USA, Sweden and Australia are all
ranked in FIFA’s top 10, compared to the Falcons at
33rd. Nevertheless the African Champions should and
could have done better considering that even Cameroon
were able to qualify for the knock out stages. The
Falcons weren’t helped in the least by their coach
Edwin Okon, who, to put it mildly, was completely out
of his depth.
There are storm clouds brewing over the Glass House,
the head office of the Nigeria Football Federation, with
controversy swirling around both the coach and captain
of the Super Eagles. Stephen Keshi and Vincent
Enyeama were directed to appear before the NFF
disciplinary committee on Tuesday, to answer queries
over conduct unbecoming of their positions. A storm
that could have a less than salutary effect on the Super
Eagles’ chances of qualifying for the 2017 Africa Cup of
Nations. The Eagles next game is against Tanzania in
the first week of September. At a time when we should
all be working to re-establish our domination of Africa,
needless distractions could end up hindering our
preparations. Qualification for Gabon 2017 is non-
negotiable.
Keshi turned up to answer his query, while Enyeama
was a no show.
I have often speculated how the working relationship
between Keshi and the NFF would pan out, considering
their history of mutual suspicion and antagonism. With
the latest developments, it seems the said relationship
might get much worse before it gets any better.
Let me lay out the facts of the matter as I know them.
Over a week ago and for reasons best known to them,
the Ivorian football association released a list of 59
coaches, who they claim submitted applications for the
recently vacated post of technical advisor to the Ivorian
national team. Former manager Herve Renard having
resigned his position to take up the manager’s job at
Lille in Ligue One. By some mysterious and so far
unexplained circumstance, Keshi’s name appeared on
the list of the 59 applicants. How can that be, you may
ask? After all, Keshi signed his new two-year deal with
the NFF on April 21, while Herve Renard was still
coaching Ivory Coast. In fact, Renard didn’t leave his
post till May 22. Keshi’s purported application to
Ivorian FA was submitted on Thursday June 11, six
weeks into his new contract with the NFF. Something
definitely doesn’t add up. The million naira question is:
If Keshi didn’t submit the application, who did? His
agent, Emmanuel Ado, has vociferously (and sometimes
quite vituperatively) denied any contact with the Ivorian
FA. In two rambling Facebook posts, Ado at first
claimed ‘enemies of peace’ were at work. In the second
post, he claimed certain members of the NFF executive
board were out to get Keshi sacked at all costs. He
went as far as accusing some people of wanting the
Super Eagles to lose against Chad in order to
undermine Keshi’s position. Keshi however stoutly
denied the accusations levelled against him. But that
still begs the question: How did Keshi’s name get on
the 59 man short list? It’s not rocket science and can
only be one of two things: either Keshi and or his agent
are being economical with the truth, which would be
hugely embarrassing for the NFF. Or the Ivorian FA is
guilty of tapping up/attempting to poach an under-
contract coach. This flouts both CAF and FIFA
regulations, which if Ivory Coast is found to be in
breach, would lead to serious consequences for them.
The NFF disciplinary committee is not letting the matter
rest and will visit Ivory Coast for further investigations.
It’s a messy situation which we surely haven’t heard
the last of.
Enyeama’s disciplinary case is ongoing too. I didn’t
read or hear the comments that led to him being
queried but I got the general gist of them. I have never
heard of a player being issued a query, this must be a
first. Usually in disciplinary matters involving a player
and constituted authority, I usually support the latter.
Enyeama is supposed to have gone off script by
complaining about security in Kaduna (and as captain
shouldn’t have done, besides security in Kaduna was
rock solid, I was there). But I admire and respect
Enyeama, apart from being our most capped player, he
is also the Eagles most consistent performer. I appeal
to the NFF to handle Enyeama’s matter with the
requisite maturity and resolve this misunderstanding
amicably. The NFF shouldn’t risk cutting off its nose to
spite its face.