Stephen Okechukwu Keshi became only the second person to win the Africa Cup of Nations as both a player and a coach. He achieved this feat by leading Nigeria’s Super Eagles to victory at the just concluded Orange Africa Cup of Nations which took place in South Africa. The only other person to have achieved the feat is Egypt's Mahmoud El-Gohary. Keshi, who had his coaching education in the United States, was the head coach of the Nigeria national under-20 football team at the 2001 African Youth Championship which also served as qualification for the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship but did not any record success.
Between 2004 and 2006 Keshi coached the Togo national football team and qualified them, against all expectations, for the FIFA World Cup in Germany in 2006 but was unable to lead the team to the World Cup having been relieved of his position and replaced by German coach, Otto Pfister after Togo failed to advance to the knock-out stage in the 2006 African Cup of Nations in Egypt. Pfister did not last long in the position. He too was asked to go after an unsuccessful World Cup campaign and Keshi became the Manager of the Togo national football. Keshi was later appointed manager of the Mali national football team in April 2008 on a two-year deal and was sacked in January 2010, after Mali's early exit in the group stages of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Keshi became coach of the Super Eagles in 2011. He qualified Nigeria for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and shocked Nigerians by leading the Super Eagles to victory at the tournament. He shocked Nigerians again when handed in his resignation a day after leading Nigeria to clinch a trophy that had eluded the nation for 19 years but rescinded his decision the day after. According to reports, it took the intervention of the nation’s sports minister to make Keshi withdraw his resignation. His employers, the NFF, we learnt also begged him to change his mind.
My initial reaction to Keshi’s decision to quit his position as coach of Super Eagles was that of disgust but after some reflection and after seeing his reasons for resigning, I felt he might have been justified. He claimed the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) did not put faith in him and also accused them of undue interference.
Keshi’s story, for me, has some lessons to teach every one of us. This is a man who many Nigerians, including myself, never gave a chance to lead his team beyond the quarter-final of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations but he surprised all of us. He was probably the only one who believed the team could record some achievements. He kept faith in his team and he was rewarded. And at the moment Stephen Okechukwu Keshi is the toast of all Nigerians. The person who was being threatened with sack is now being begged not to leave the same job over which he was being threatened before.
Keshi’s story has again reinforced the importance of self-belief if anybody wants to achieve anything worthwhile in life. Oppositions will come. Threats may be issued. Discouragement will stare one in the face. Frustration may set in. But one thing will keep one going and that is self-belief. Self-belief has been defined as confidence or trust in your own abilities or judgment that you will succeed in an endeavour and that is what Keshi has demonstrated since he took over as coach of the Super Eagles. He believed that his decision (judgment) to drop some players from the team and include some players, especially home-based players was, a good one and that he had the ability to build a good team. If the truth must be told, his decision has paid off. The following quote sums up what I have been trying to say, “The only person who can pull me down is myself and I'm not going to let myself pull me down anymore.”
Another interesting thing about the Keshi story is the fact that he is being begged not to leave his position. This tells me something. When a person records success in life, he gets to a level where he dictates the terms and conditions under which he will function. He finds himself in the driver’s seat and is able to make his demands on life and from people.
It was these realisations that made me change my initial reaction to Keshi’s decision to resign even if my reaction does not in any way affect the Big Boss.
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