Northern cabal to choose Keshi's assistant‏

Sports Minister, Yusuf Suleiman

*Amokachie returns at Oliseh's cost

A very strong northern football cabal which though has made up its mind to support the engagement of Stephen Keshi are insisting that the Eagles gaffer cannot have the freehand to choose his assistant so as to take care of the interest of the region.

The cabal that has silently been in the control of Nigerian football for decades have ruled out the combination of Keshi and Sunday Oliseh. Their reason? Keshi's assistant must be a northerner and that is why they are zeroing on former Super Eagles assistant coach, Daniel Amokachie.

Even the choice of Amokachie was a reluctant one. He is seen as an 'infidel' and he is one of the available coaches of northern background who has the profile to fix the bill at that level for now.

Rather than dwell on the quality of the coaches to handle the Super Eagles after the sack of Siasia, the cabal have reduced the issue to regional sentiments in deciding the very sensitive issue such that the north must be represented in the coaching crew of the senior national team.

The members of the cabal in order to have their way tacitly ran the script to give the technical committee led by Christopher Green a pass mark publicly to facilitate the plan.

It was the decision that, should the NFF finally decide on engaging Steven Okechukwu Keshi as the Chief Coach of the Super Eagles, his immediate assistant must be somebody from the North and the person they have proposed is Daniel Amokachi, said our source.

According to the board member who spoke on confidentiality and anonymity, it was declared that the whole technical crew cannot come from the same region as the North must be represented. This is why Oliseh and Keshi cannot and should not get the job.

"The national team technical crew should be regionally balanced, we are of the opinion that should Keshi be given the job, naturally his assistant must come from the North. Everything must be done to make Sunday Oliseh not to emerge."
On how to counter the argument in favour of a Steven Keshi and Sunday Oliseh combination, a section of the media will be made to run negative campaigns against Oliseh's person.

My source added, "currently, on paper, Oliseh has a more qualified coaching certificate than Daniel Amokachie, but the thing is not about paper qualification. Once Keshi and Oliseh get the job and they get it right, the north will be boxed out for a long time.

The board is expected to make an announcement on Wednesday (tomorrow) on who the next Super Eagles coaches would be. Samson Siasia was given the boot last week Friday for failing to lead the Super Eagles to next year’s Africa Cup of Nations which they claimed contravened the agreement they had with him in his contract.
It will be recalled that the same cabal had rationalised that since Taiwo Ogunjobi as secretary general was from the south west, and Sani Abdullahi Lulu was from the north central, the coach must be from the east which was why Christian Chukwu was brought in.

As soon as Siasia was also employed, the same cabal insisted on the choice of Salisu Yusuf, a northerner, as one of his assistants. The same cabal forced coach Bala Nikyu on Uche Eucharia after a more cerebral Monsur Abdullahi was edged out because he is Fulani not a hausaman. The same principle brought Manu Garba into the national team.

“Though, the NFF board had said that the technical committee will be meeting today to decide who the next coach of the Super Eagles would be. I can confirm it is just a routine exercise as they have already teleguided how the structure of the team would be,” said our source.

It is the reading of the script between the lines that informed why chief Adegboyega Onigbinde was touted to have offered to resign from the technical committee. He does not want his name dragged to rubber stamp what he thinks is wrong. However, the Modakeke chief has been under some silent pressure not to leave. His resignation is calculated is sending the wrong signals. However, his resignation has been accepted by the NFF.