Stephen Keshi has revealed that he was not sacked as the head coach of the Super Eagles because he had no contract with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
The new NFF board showed Keshi the exit last Thursday morning as national team coach, despite his side’s 3-1 home win against Sudan that kept the Super Eagles in the running to defend their African title.
Keshi expressed surprise on how the news was disseminated that he was sacked as the Super Eagles manager.
“I am not happy with the way media people are reporting this to the public, because I don’t understand how you would fire someone that has no contract.
“My contract expired after the World Cup in Brazil, and I never made any effort for my contract to be renewed because of so many issues on the ground.
“I have accepted my fate, and I would move on with my life, but I want to make it clear that I was never sacked because I had no contract,” Keshi said.
It has been widely reported that Keshi had revealed that three African countries have showed interest in him to be their national team coach, but Keshi revealed that he never said such.
“I have never told anybody that three African countries are looking for me, and as far as I’m concerned, no nation has called me for any talk,” he added.
The Super Eagles must win their next two games against Congo and South Africa to have any chance of qualifying for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations, and Keshi believes Nigeria would qualify for the championship.
“I know Nigeria would qualify for the 2015 Nations Cup because we have the players that can do the job, but they need a lot of encouragement and support from Nigerians and I wish them good luck in their next two games,” Keshi said in Ilorin
Keshi has been replaced with Shuaibu Amodu and his re-appointment comes four years after he was sacked and stopped from leading the country to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Nigeria have four points after three matches, while Congo who are the next opponents of the African champions are second on seven points in Group A of the Afcon qualification. Group leaders, South Africa, travel to Nigeria for the final qualifying game on November 19.
