STEPHEN KESHI: ADIEU THE 'BIG BOSS'

Just yesterday I started this article about how the life of a celeb sucks and left off for the day as I was too tired to continue after a hectic day.

And so it was with great shock and pain that I received the news of Former super Eagles Coach, Stephen Keshi passing away after a heart attack this morning.

If you think it’s easy being a celeb then you must be seriously in a world very different from this present one that we live in. Celebs are in a better position to tell you, that is, if they are willing to open up to you in all honesty. 

Dear reader, there is no way you will walk away after they must have opened up to you wholeheartedly, without you thanking your stars for the simple sane and private life that you enjoy which is a very expensive venture for most of them.

Forget about all the hype and jazzy lifestyle of some of these celebs that is spread all over social media, beneath all that razzmatazz is a very lonely person who inspite of all the hangers-on in the name of followers and fans, is yearning for that indescribable thing that seems to keep eluding him/her everytime they feel they are almost getting ‘there’ as they keep wanting more and more of a never ending ‘insatiable’ longing.

We place our celebrities so ‘high’ up there, hence putting them in a constant circle of trying to meet up with our expectations from them. Yet we won’t accord them the respect while we still can or have the opportunities to do so. Instead some of us will put up funny attitudes with the ‘who does he think he/she is’ expression. So, why won’t they have heart attacks?

On the right is a picture of the late Stephen Keshi and the son of one of my childhood friends at Heathrow airport taken in 2015.

We were talking about how sad Stephen had to go just a few months after burying his wife, Kate and she narrated how people including Nigerians barely recognized or acknowledged his presence while at the airport as they just stood and stared at him even as she mentioned that he was our ‘Super’ Coach.

I was so hurt when she described the nasty ‘I don’t care’ attitude of the other Nigerians present at the airport.

Mtcheew! Hypocrites and sychophants!! Now that news of his death has hit the airwaves, these same group of hypocrites who despised or did not acknowledge his presence when he was alive and well at the airport that same day, would still be among the people who would cry ‘oh how we will miss him’ even as the honest people mourn his departure.

I bet you, if it was Jose Mourinho that was at that airport that same day, those ‘I don’t care’ Nigerians would be the first to jostle over themselves to take pictures with a man who may not care a hoot about their love for his games or whatever. Some of those ‘nutheads’ would be willing to even pay with all the money on them to get an autograph from Jose that very moment if they were asked to do so. Yet all they needed to do was simply acknowledge our ‘very own’ but ‘whosai’ thereby confirming again that 'a prophet is never recognised in his homestead'.

Hmmm! This life is really complicated.

The Big Boss

For those who didn’t know, Stephen Keshi is the only Nigerian who has won the Nations’ Cup for the Country both as a player and a Coach, in Tunisia 1994 and South Africa 2013 respectively. Also he was the second indigenous Coach after Shuaibu Ahmodu to qualify Nigeria for the FIFA world cup in 2014 even though we were sent packing in the second rounds.

What more can I say?

Stephen  Keshi, ‘Big Boss’ as he was fondly called by many, was the second indigenous Coach after Adegboye Onigbinde to have led the Super Eagles to the FIFA World cup. Also, he led the super Eagles to the 2013 FIFA confederation cup in Brazil.

He made history in Africa in 2006 as the first Nigerian Coach to qualify an African Country, Togo for the FIFA world cup in Germany. It is also on record that he qualified the ‘Eagles’ of Mali to the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola 2010.

Most importantly, he was a loving father and first Nigerian footballer to sign a professional football contract abroad. His performance in France opened the floodgates to Nigerian and African players to sign professional football contracts abroad which was one of the reasons why he earned the nick name ‘the big boss’.

I could go on and on.

Stephen Keshi was the first national team captain to captain the super Eagles at the FIFA world cup in USA 1994 as well as being the first captain of the super Eagles to lift the trophy outside the shores of Nigeria.

Interestingly, he captained all the football clubs he played for throughout his football career within and outside the country.

Keshi and family during wife's funeral

I guess I have said enough already. I am so hurt that it still feels like a dream.

Rest in Peace Keshi, guess you’ve gone to join your wife in the bosom of the Lord. May God grant your family the fortitude to bear this great loss. You were indeed an enigma.

ADIEU! ‘BIG BOSS’ KESHI!!

Also continue to Rest in Peace, Uche Okafor, Rashidi Yekini, Wilfred Agbonavbare, Thomson Oliha our football golden stars of 1994.