Super Eagles Head Coach, Stephen Keshi, has kicked against suggestion that the outcome of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Congo at the Stade Municipal in Pointe-Noire on Saturday will influence his retention as the national gaffer.
Nigeria is on the cliff edge and a defeat will severely jeopardize Eagles chances of qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations campaign which holds next year.
Eagles on four points need outright victory in the weekend clash to have hope of progressing to defend the cup won at AFCON 2013 in South Africa. A draw or defeat means the elimination of Nigeria from the tournament.
Keshi, who was only reinstated as caretaker coach for the key fixtures against Congo and South Africa, after a raft of poor results in the qualifiers, said yesterday that he was not banking on the outcome of the Congo fixture to secure a contractual extension.
“The match in Congo will not determine anything,” Keshi told reporters in remarks laden fury. “I don’t have a contract and I am not depending on this match to get a contact. Please don’t think I will die on the Nigerian job because there is no coach that comes here that will not want to leave. This is my country but don’t think I won’t exist without the Super Eagles. After all, I came from somewhere, so don’t think my career is over if we lose to Congo. Rather, it is just about to start. I just pray that on Saturday Nigerians will have cause to be happy,” stressed the former Togo and Mali gaffer.
Sports Minister, Tammy Danagogo, restored Keshi after he was ‘sacked’ by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) board headed by Amaju Pinnick on October 15, some hours after Nigeria defeated Sudan 3-1 in Abuja to put their Nations Cup hope back on track.
The former national captain derided the NFF board for sacking him when he technically was not on contract with the federation.
Keshi admitted he had been liaising with Danagogo since his restoration. He also denied having any sort of contact with the factional board headed by Chris Giwa and the FIFA recognised NFF board led by Pinnick.
“Which NFF board are you talking about? I have not met any president at the NFF. Pinnick and Giwa? I don’t know which one. They cannot pronounce me sacked because I don’t have a contract. Can you people retract that statement (about him being sacked)?”
He similarly admitted hitches in the current efforts to have assistant coach, Silvanus Okpalla reinstated to the technical crew for the remaining two AFCON qualifiers in line with an order by government recalling him to the team.
Keshi regretted that Okpalla, who headed to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), challenging his sack in 2013 by NFF, had declined to withdraw his case in compliance with a peace condition given by NFF.
According to Keshi, Okpalla said he was not withdrawing because the case was already in the final stage of hearing.
source: thisdaylive
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