Stephen Keshi lost his job, three months after his reappointment for allegedly mortifying the iconic number 10 shirt which he handed to an unknown player, during Nigeria's Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Chad in Kaduna on June 13.
According to reports, one of the reasons why Stephen Keshi lost his job, three months after his reappointment, was that he allegedly mortified the iconic number 10 shirt which he handed to an unknown player, during Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Chad in Kaduna on June 13.
The player in question is Gabriel Okechukwu, who plays for non-league club, Water Football Club of Abuja.
A disciplinary committee constituted by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), which investigated Keshi for applying for the vacant Ivory Coast job, in breach of his contract, determined that Keshi erred by smuggling Okechukwu into the national team without the knowledge of the Technical Committee and the Technical Study Group.
Keshi was sacked last weekend by the NFF board for breaching the terms of his contract with the federation.
In his place, the Technical Director of the NFF, Amodu Shaibu, was appointed in acting capacity to handle the team pending the appointment of a full time national coach.
The panel accused Keshi of sacrilege by gifting Okechukwu the iconic No 10 jersey, only for him to be left on the reserve bench during the match which Nigeria won 2-0 through goals by Gbolahan Salami and Odion Ighalo.
They contended that Okechukwu did not yet have the pedigree to be coveted with the influential shirt globally popularised by Pele of Brazil, Maradona of Argentina, Zidane of France and Austin Jay Jay Okocha of Nigeria.
The panel said Keshi compromised the standard of the team in breach of Clause 5.8 of his contract of employment by not using his best available players and by pandering to a non-leaguer when there were better prospects in the local league and in club sides beyond the shores of country.