The waiting
game over a contract extension for Coach Stephen Okechukwu Keshi to continue as
handler of the Super Eagles continued unabated on Friday, as the gaffer failed
to turn up Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for the much-expected signing of a
new contract with the soccer governing body.
While Keshi
failed to turn up as widely reported early same day, top officials of the NFF
were also missing from the football secretariat, in what observers insinuated
as tacit agreement between all parties to stylishly shy away from the expected
contract signing occasion without a word of explanation.
SportsDay
checks at The Glasshouse revealed a scenario akin to a ghost town, as NFF buffs
apparently started their weekend early, while the array of sportswriters who
usually gather for daily news gathering were away at the stadium for the FCT
SWAN election.
Speculation,
though, erupted once again that the NFF top guns might be playing for time,
considering that feelers had emerged all along that outgoing vice-president,
Alhaji Namadi Sambo had been expected to give the go-ahead for either a new
coach to be signed by the soccer body or for Keshi to be allowed to continue.
With no
official word forthcoming from Sambo, the NFF appear ready to wait until the
exchange of power on May 29 for the Keshi issue to die a natural death, though
football experts know that would be pretty close to the commencement of qualifiers
for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
However, a call put through to National Sports Commission (NSC) director-general, Honorable Gbenga Elegbeleye failed to assuage all frayed nerves as he simply retorted: “The NFF have a right and privilege to appoint whoever they want and whenever they deem it fit to do so.
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