Between Keshi, NFF and bleaching complex

“We want to break the African record of a quarterfinal berth in the World Cup and from all indications we know that Keshi needs a help. He will still lead the technical crew to Brazil and will remain the head coach. But we just want to attach somebody to him for the sake of improving […]

“We want to break the African record of a quarterfinal berth in the World Cup and from all indications we know that Keshi needs a help. He will still lead the technical crew to Brazil and will remain the head coach. But we just want to attach somebody to him for the sake of improving Nigeria’s lot in the World Cup.”
Some of the alleged technical lapses identified by NFF include that though the Ghanaian team was reduced to ten men in the CHAN semi-final match, the Super Eagles could not find an answer to their power game and eventually lost to them. It was also alleged that during the CHAN match with Zimbabwe for the third place, the Super Eagles could again not find a way to convincingly overwhelm the team despite the fact that one of their players got a red card in the 17th minute of the game. NFF was apparently disappointed that the Super Eagles were able to score only three minutes to the full time. It was equally alleged that during the match with Mexico in Houston last year, Eagles failed to find a way to beat a ten-man team. It was further alleged that NFF’s misgivings were not so much about the Super Eagles’ inability to defeat their opponents but their inability to adapt to technical changes – as happened I their matches against Ghana and Zimbabwe during the CHAN tournament.
Apart from the above alleged technical lapses, there were also accusations, by innuendo, of bias in the selection of the team against Keshi. A source from NFF was quoted by the same Vanguard of February 10 2014 as saying that “a new hand could ask questions about certain things that may eventually help the team. Chigozia Agbim, for example, kept only two matches for his club throughout the season and has recently been dropped by his club, Enugu Rangers, who registered four goal keepers and found him not good enough to be among their keepers.” The source continued: “That’s the keeper Keshi used in the CHAN competition and he embarrassed the country. That cannot happen in football nations. We don’t fold our arms while somebody leads us astray. If you closely watch our league you will find out that those who played CHAN in South Africa were not our best, some may not even make the second team of the bests in our league. We want to be sure that we make a true representation of the current best of Nigerian football in Brazil and a new hand may not give in to the kind of sentiments that we have noticed in the team now.”
I am among those who kept wondering what Keshi saw in goalkeeper Chigozia Agbim who, by the way, looked more like a club bouncer than an athlete. I also believe it was right for NFF officials to ask questions, if, as Keshi’s employers, they feel something is not just right. However given the long running battle between Keshi and NFF over who will call the shots in the selection of the team, I am inclined to believe the NFF is cleverly disguising its nostalgia for its traditional meddlesomeness in the job of a coach and Keshi’s refusal to allow them to select his team for him.  While NFF may have some points in some of its criticisms of some of the players featured in the CHAN game, one will also be bold to ask, “Under whose watch has Nigeria made its best CHAN appearance so far”? – for a balanced perspective. The answer here is that so far Nigeria’s best outing in CHAN has been under Keshi.
The no love -lost between Keshi and NFF apparently predated the nations Cup in South Africa last year where it was widely rumoured that the NFF had perfected plans to sack him after the tournament only for Keshi to shut them up by bringing home the Cup. Not long ago we also learnt that Keshi was owed several months’ salary.
To be sure, Keshi’s teams have not been without technical lapses – and no team is perfect. In boxing they say that styles make a fight. An invincible fighter will always have a journeyman whose awkward style gives him a bloody nose. Remember Mohammed Ali and Ken Norton? Remember Mike Tyson and James Buster Douglas? As it is in boxing so it is in football and other competitive sports. A team may appear invincible today only to be walloped mercilessly by a less fancied side. Your strengths and weaknesses as a side are often a function of the strengths and weaknesses of the team you are playing against.
Despite the drop in FIFA rankings, Eagles had never had it so good as it has under Keshi’s guidance. Keshi has been one of the indigenous coaches who have been able to rein in the oversized egos of some of our big name professional players. Often forgotten when people discuss Keshi’s achievements is the fact that he injected uncommon discipline to the team. He is not intimidated by the theatrics of the big name players, having been up there himself – in fact one of the pacesetters among Nigerian professional players. Unlike Samson Sia Sia, Keshi has the charisma and can be tough without appearing to be cantankerous.  
It is obvious NFF would have preferred a foreign coach for the super Eagles – and let’s be blunt about this, a White European coach.
I do not have anything against any ethnic or racial group in the world. If anything, my experiences in and outside the country convinces me of the universality of human beings, that you meet angels in all races and ethnicities just as every race or ethnic group also has its fair share of people who operate from the wrong side of the moral divide. However it seems to me a contradiction in terms that at a time the country is obsessed with launching its own version of industrial revolution and of protecting our infant industries, the NFF is obsessed with yanking open to foreigners – let’s be blunt about it – to white Europeans, our putative infant coaching industry, of which Keshi has become the face of.
NFF’s position is not just a continuation of its war without blood with Keshi but also a manifestation of the serious bleaching complex many of its top hierarchy suffer from.  For these ‘ogas at the top’, they need the imprimatur of a White Coach to be assured they are preparing well for the World Cup in Brazil. NFF seriously needs to de-colonize its mind. Skin bleaching, fake ‘accenting’, and ‘colonial mentality’ are serious disorders, which are rooted in low self-esteem and manifest self-hate. The root of ‘bleaching complex’ is diffidence and self-doubt. And the remedy is a re-education to accept who you are, to de-colonize your mind and see reality from a balanced perspective.  
NFF’s position on foreign (read: White) coach reminds me of this saying attributed to an ethnic group in East Africa: ‘Up above is God the omniscient, down below gathering strength from the dust, is the Blackman. Between the Black man and God is the Whiteman. The problem of the Blackman is to find a way to get past the Whiteman and talk directly to God.’ NFF apparently still believes that a White European coach is needed to mediate between the Super Eagles and the god of soccer.
NFF says it wants to “break the African record of a quarterfinal berth in the World Cup”. This sounds good. But how many of the foreign coaches African countries routinely engage in the run-up to World Cup every four years were able to deliver?  Keshi qualified Togo for the World Cup for the first time. However the same ‘bleaching complex’ being currently manifested by NFF goaded Togo to jettison him in favour of a White coach. And how far did that get them? This is the 21st century. Nigeria has joined the league of vehicle manufacturers and is developing high ambitions in other fields.  If the Eaglets could conquer the world with our local coaches, why not the Super Eagles?
If NFF has noticed some technical lapses in the Super Eagles, wouldn’t it have been better to send Keshi to some refresher courses to bridge such skills gaps? I also believe the idea of an Assistant Coach makes sense but only if it is made in good faith and not as a guile to implement some hidden agenda. Even at that, Keshi should be allowed to select such an Assistant who will not only complement him but will also be able to work well with him as a team.