By Patrick Omorodion

I want to say that Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi is neither my friend nor my enemy. My only relationship with him is that we were former Bendalites before the military separated us into Edo and Delta States. He being from Illah fell into Delta while me from a little village called Ekpon in Igueben local government fell into Edo.

But I have always admired Keshi from his days as a player of the defunct New Nigeria Football Club of Benin, the only club I have truly supported in Nigeria. I stopped supporting them in 1983 after IICC Shooting Stars ‘robbed’ them of victory at the Adamasingba Stadium after they led 2-0 in a league match that year.. I almost failed an exam I was to write the next day as an undergraduate of the then University of Ife.

The essence of this piece is to bring to Keshi’s notice the thoughts of Nigerians on his position on Eagles captain, Joseph Yobo and the lessons he should learn from Clemens Westerhof and Shaibu Amodu when it comes to assisting players achieve a milestone.

I decided to do this piece after Dr. Rafiu Ladipo, the president-general of the Nigeria Football and other Sports Supporters Club added his voice to the clarion call on Keshi to reconsider his stand on Yobo making the Eagles team.

I recall that Westerhof was recalcitrant on the call for him to draft Nduka Ugbade into the Eagles team for the FIFA World Cup in 1994 after the Nations Cup victory some months earlier. Ugbade had captained the Golden Eaglets to their first ever victory in 1985 in China to become the first blackman to ever lift a FIFA trophy. He was part of Nigeria’s team that was on the verge of making history again as the first African team to lift the FIFA U-20 trophy in Saudi Arabia in 1989 before the Flying Eagles fell to Portugal in the final.

If Ugbade had made the Eagles list to the USA ’94 World Cup, he would have become the first player to have participated in all FIFA’s competition from the U-17 through U-20 to the senior competition. FIFA looked forward to it and Ugbade was expectant but Westerhof ruined that dream and Ugbade has not forgotten nor forgiven the Dutch for that till today.

Next was late Rashidi Yekini, Nigeria’s most prolific striker till date. Yekini, after the Nations Cup victory in 1994 was one goal short of Laurent Poku’s all time Nations Cup goal of 14.He was looking forward to that in the 1996 edition hosted by South Africa. It never was because late Head of State General Sani Abacha pulled the Eagles out of the competition. Yekini never recovered from that disappointment, believing that the Nigeria he so much laboured to lift high soccer-wise could treat him that way.

Initialy I thought Yekini held Abacha responsible for that botched dream until I read a book in his memory written by his close cofidant and lawyer, Barrister Jubril Mohammed Olarenwaju where it was revealed that Yekini believed Shaibu Amodu, who was in-charge of the team after Westerhof took a walk in 1994, did him in by dropping him out of the team that were supposed to defend the trophy in 1996. He didn’t complain of Abacha, the lawyer wrote, but Amodu who dropped him. That annoyance he took to the great beyond and never forgave Amodu.

Now again, Yobo is on the verge of making history as the most capped Eagles. He has been capped 96 times or so and needs just four matches to hit the 100 caps mark but suddenly he is no longer considered good enough to even sit on the bench and be counted among the 23 players registered for a match.

According to his friends, Yobo is not too keen making the 2014 World Cup in Brazil but to enter the record books and just like Ugbade and Yekini, that dream is slipping out of his eyes courtesy of Keshi’s tough posture.

Dr Ladipo rightly said that Yobo has laboured for the Eagles and Nigeria and dserves to be assisted in making history. He suggested that Keshi must not play Yobo for 90 minutes nor even 30 minutes but just 10 or five minutes in games that are already as sure as being won. That is my view too and today I talk to Keshi as one of his admirers to reconsider Yobo because of posterity. Ugbade’s heart still hurts and Yekini took Amodu’s name to the great beyond. Yobo must not keep Keshi in his mind for bad but for good forever, so give him this honour.

Keshi should also remember that Westerhof gave him the honour in 1994 both at the Nations Cup and World Cup by making him a non-playing captain. That was the first time that cliché entered into the football lexicon of Nigeria. Because he laboured to qualify Nigeria for both competitions, Keshi was given the honour of lifting the trophy when Nigeria won even though Austine Eguavoen wore the captain’s band in that competition.

To today, it is counted that Keshi played in the World Cup. That was because Westerhof gave him that honour because of his work for the Eagles and Nigeria before then. Keshi could begin by giving Yobo some playing time from the second leg of the final qualifier against Ethiopia in Calabar on November 16, 2013.

After qualification for the World Cup, which I believe is certain, the Eagles must play tune-up matches to prepare for the battle in Brazil and Yobo could have the chance to achieve his dream and remember Keshi, for good, forever. This is not too much to do for a captain that has done so much for trhe country. This I beg of Keshi my Bendel brother. I hope you hearken to this priceless advice and God will continue to pave more paths of success for you in Jesus name. Amen.